Missing Russian An-26 Plane Debris Found, Officer Says No Survivors

Ilustrasi pesawat An-26 Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise (Wikimedia Commons/Dmitriy Pichugin)

JAKARTA - The wreckage of the An-26 passenger plane that went missing over Kamchatka has been found, CEO of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Enterprise, Alexey Khrabrov, told TASS, as quoted Tuesday, July 6.

"Yes, the wreckage has been found. I can't tell you where and under what circumstances. Information may be available tomorrow. An aircraft will be dispatched to the scene in the morning, and a helicopter will be working in the area", he explained.

A source in the emergency services also said the wreckage of the plane that crashed had been found.

"The plane hit a hill before crashing, which caused the plane's destruction", the source said.

The source also revealed that there were no survivors of the accident.

"According to preliminary information, everyone on board the downed An-26 aircraft was killed. There are no survivors", the emergency services source said.

An An-26 aircraft belonging to Russia's Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Enterprise airline lost contact on July 6. The plane was en route from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana and was carrying 22 passengers and 6 crew.

An emergency services source said the plane stopped communicating as it was about to land. One version suggests the crash occurred due to a piloting error due to poor visibility.

Earlier, emergency agencies had determined the possible crash site of the missing Antonov An-26 in Russia's Kamchatka Region, an emergency source said.

"The area has been determined to be about 15-25 kilometers from the airport, along the coastline. Searches are also being carried out at sea. Objective data shows the plane crashed into the sea", the source added.

Meanwhile, the weather in the area was cloudy at the time of the accident, the Interfax News Agency said, citing the local meteorological center.