Wreckage of missing plane in Russia's Far East region found near destination airport

Moscow, July 06: Russian authorities say that the wreckage of missing An-26 plane with 22 passengers and 6 crew flying in Far East region was found near destination airport.

The wreckage has been found around three miles away from a runway in an airport on the Okhotsk Sea coast where it was supposed to land.

A plane with 28 people on board had gone missing in the Russian Far East region of Kamchatka on Tuesday, local officials said.

An An-26 plane with 22 passengers and 6 crew flying from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana missed a scheduled communication, local emergency officials said.

According to the local transport ministry, it also disappeared from radar. The plane belonged to a company called Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise. An investigation has been launched.

Two helicopters and an airplane were deployed to inspect the missing plane's route, local officials said.

The plane was coming in for a landing when contact was lost about 10 kilometers (six miles) away from Palana's airport. The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was aboard the flight, spokespeople of the Kamchatka government said.