UPDATED: Plane with 28 on board crashes into sea in Russia’s far east -RIA

A Russian Antonov An-26 airplane with 22 passengers and six crew members on board went missing on Tuesday in the far east Kamchatka peninsula in Russia, the country’s emergencies ministry said.

The plane was en route from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana in the northern part of the peninsula when it lost contact with air traffic control and disappeared from the radar, agencies quoted local officials as saying.

A search and rescue operation is on and a probe into the incident has been launched, they said.

The plane belonged to a company called Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, Associated Press reported, adding that two helicopters and an airplane have been deployed to chart the missing plane’s route.

The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was aboard the flight, AP quoted spokespeople of the Kamchatka government as saying. Air traffic control lost contact with the airplane about 10 kilometres (6 miles) away from the Palana airport, according to AP.

via Reuters

Photo Boksi via Wikimedia Commons