Passenger plane with 28 people aboard goes missing in Russia’s Far East
Moscow, Jul 6 (EFE).- A Russian AN-26 passenger plane carrying 28 people aboard and flying in the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east went off the radar, Russian authorities announced Tuesday.
The twin-engined turboprop aircraft had taken off from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy in Kamchatka and was bound for Palana.
On board the aircraft were six crew members and 22 passengers, two of them children, according to preliminary data offered by the authorities of the Kamchatka region.
Contact with the plane, belonging to Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, was lost during landing, an emergency source told state-run news agency Tass.
The plane may have crashed into the Okhotsk Sea while carrying out the approach maneuver to land at Palana’s airport, according to the source.
Regional authorities have organized search and rescue teams to locate the aircraft, which had been in operation since 1982 and whose license was due to expire on Aug. 30.
Criminal proceedings have been launched into the incident for alleged violations of air navigation regulations. EFE
bsi/pd/lds
