Six dead in plane crash in Russia

Six people died when a Let L-410 Turbolet twin-engine short-range passenger plane crashed while performing a landing in Russia’s Far Eastern Khabarovsk Territory, the regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.

"Six people died and a child survived," a spokesman said.

The plane was carrying two pilots and five passengers.  The three-year-old child has been taken to a hospital in a serious condition, an official at the administration of the Nelkan village, Vera Shulyatyeva, said.

The bodies of six persons have been retrieved from the plane’s debris.

The plane, en route from the region’s administrative center of Khabarovsk to the village of Nelkan, crashed while landing. The plane was owned by the Khabarovsk Airlines.

"Among the priority causes of the crash considered is a pilot error and a technical failure," an aviation source told TASS.

According to the regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the plane crashed two kilometers away from the airport in the settlement of Nelkan.

A spokesperson for the department said the plane’s fuselage suffered no serious damage, and a fire did not broke out.

First reports about the accident were received at about 13:30 local time (06:30 Moscow time).

An anonymous emergencies source earlier told TASS the plane failed to establish contact with the air traffic control and went off radar screens while performing a landing attempt.

A criminal case has been launched into the violation of safety rules and air transport operation, resulting in the death of two or more people.

The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) will conduct the investigation, Russia’s Transport Ministry said.

Let L-410 Turbolet is a Czech-made 19-seat aircraft manufactured by Let Kunovice. More than 1,100 such planes have been produced in various modifications since the aircraft first entered service in 1971, and 862 of them were supplied to the Soviet Union.

Source: TASS