A passenger plane carrying 48 people crashed on Thursday morning in Russia’s far eastern Amur region with no survivors, according to the local governor.
The Russian news agency Interfax reported that the plane’s wreckage was found around nine miles from its intended destination in the town of Tynda, having traveled from the regional hub of Blagoveshchensk some 360 miles away.
Gov. Vasily Orlov said in a post to Telegram that the An-24 aircraft vanished from radar close to Tynda. Emergency services later found the wreckage in nearby woods. “I regret to inform you that there are no survivors,” Orlov wrote in a later post. “Rescuers have reached the crash site.” Orlov declared three days of mourning.
Artem Korenyako, a spokesperson for Russia’s federal aviation agency Rosaviatsiya, wrote on Telegram that a search and rescue helicopter “discovered a burning fuselage.”
Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations also reported the discovery of burning wreckage in a post to Telegram. More than 50 people and 10 pieces of equipment were deployed in search and rescue efforts, the ministry said.
