Russian plane carrying at least 28 passengers goes missing

The Russian An-26 plane was carrying around 22 passengers and 6 crew members and was flying from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana in the northern part of the peninsula. The plane missed a scheduled communication and also disappeared from the radars, officials said

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A plane with around 28 people on board has gone missing in the Russian Far East region of Kamchatka on Tuesday, local officials said. The Russian An-26 plane was carrying 22 passengers and 6 crew members and was flying from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana in the northern part of the peninsula. Some reports quoted that 29 people were on board. Local emergency officials said that the plane  missed a scheduled communication and the local transport ministry said it also disappeared from the radars. An investigation has been launched, and a search mission is underway.

Interfax news agency quoted the local meteorology centre as saying that weather in the area was cloudy. "Search and rescue efforts are underway," Valentina Glazova, a spokeswoman for the local transport prosecutor's office, told AFP. She added, "All that is known at this time, what has been possible to establish, is that communication with the plane was interrupted and it did not land." Russia, was once notorious for plane accidents but its air traffic safety record had improved  in recent years.  

Recently Philippine also saw an airline disaster. At least 45 people were killed and dozens were injured when a Philippine military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country's south, the country's armed forces had said. According to officials, a number of soldiers jumped out of the aircraft before it hit the ground.

(with Agency inputs)