Wreckage found after plane carrying 49 people goes down in Russian far east

Russian rescue services have found the wreckage of a plane that disappeared about 16km (10 miles) from its destination in the far-eastern Amur region.

The Angara airlines An-24 plane, carrying 43 passengers and six crew, had left Blagoveshchensk close to the Chinese border and vanished from radar as it approached Tynda airport, emergency officials said.

Amur’s regional governor Vasily Orlov said “all necessary resources” had been deployed to find the plane. Five children were among those on board, he added.

Shortly afterwards Russia’s emergencies ministry said a Russian civil aviation helicopter had spotted burning fuselage from the plane.

Amur’s civil defence centre said the plane had been found on a hillside about 16km (10 miles) from Tynda, Tass news agency reported.

Emergency services said rescuers were heading for the scene.

The An-24 plane had been on the final leg of a route from Khabarovsk in the far south-east of Russia.