MOSCOW, Sept 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — All six crew members on board a Russian transport plane died when it crashed outside the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, local officials said on Thursday.
The wreckage was discovered by a search team after it disappeared from radars on Wednesday evening.
Investigators said remnants of the plane were discovered on a ridge in the Bolshekhekhtsirsky Nature Reserve, some 20km south of Khabarovsk.
The emergencies ministry said it had taken more than five hours to reach the remote crash site.
Photos from the scene showed debris from the Antonov An-26 transport aircraft scattered across broken tree branches.
“All members of the crew died. We extend our condolences to the families,” the Khabarovsk branch of the health ministry said in a statement.
They said they were now looking into the cause of the crash.
Antonov planes were manufactured during the Soviet era and are still used throughout the former Soviet Union for civilian and military transport.
In July, an An-26 flying over the Far Eastern Kamchatka peninsula crashed, killing all 28 people on board. — NNN-AGENCIES
