Search teams yesterday found the wreckage of a passenger plane carrying 28 people that had disappeared in Russia’s remote far eastern Kamchatka peninsula last week, but there was little hope of survivors.
Search and rescue operations were suspended after night fell and Russian news agencies quoted local sources as saying it appeared that all the passengers and crew had died.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the ‘An-26 plane’ was flying from Kamchatka’s main city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the coastal town of Palana when it went off the radar at 2:40 pm (0240 GMT).
The governor of Kamchatka, a vast peninsula popular with adventure tourists for its abundant wildlife and live volcanoes, said search teams had found parts of the fuselage along the coast and in the Okhotsk Sea.
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‘There was a catastrophe during the go-around approach for landing,’ Vladimir Solodov said in a video released on the government website.
According to local officials, most of the passengers were from Palana — which has a population of about 3,000 — including four local government officials and the town’s head Olga Mokhiryova.
Kamchatka’s government published a list of 28 people who were on board, including Mokhiryova and one child born in 2014.
The emergency ministry had further revealed that the plane had struck a cliff after twice trying to land amid poor visibility and a strong crosswind.
Interfax and TASS quoted local medical and emergency services sources as saying it appeared all those on board had died.
The Kamchatka government said the peninsula has five An-26 planes servicing remote areas.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK