Bodies of 19 people recovered from fatal passenger plane crash site in Russia’s Far East region, rescuers say, as search continues

Emergency workers in Russia’s Kamchatka announced on Wednesday that they had found the remains of 19 passengers killed when their turboprop plane hit a hillside. A total of 28 people, including six crew, are said to have died.

One official told TASS that “at present, 19 bodies have been recovered by rescuers. To identify most of them, a genetic analysis will likely be required. So far, the identity of only one person has been established.”

Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations later confirmed the details, saying that, “during the search operation on the coast of Kamchatka, the remains of 10 more people were found." This, it added, was in addition to the nine bodies already discovered. It estimated that debris from the plane was scattered over a vast area of around 100 square kilometers (40 square miles).

The Antonov An-26 twin-engined turboprop vanished from radars while flying from the regional capital of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the town of Palana, over 700km (435 miles) away. Alexey Khrabrov, the director of the Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise that operated the flight, revealed on Tuesday that the wreckage had been found, and a source in the emergency services said it had “collided with a hill” a few kilometers from where it was due to land.

According to Khrabrov, the plane was flown by “a good young crew with experience.” In the cockpit, he said, was “a fairly experienced commander – 35 years old.” In 2012, an Antonov An-28 similar to the one that vanished on Tuesday crashed into a forest in Kamchatka while flying the same route. Investigators said both pilots were intoxicated when the accident happened.

The Kamchatka Region is vast in size, larger in size than countries such as Ukraine and France, but home to just 300,000 people. With a rocky landscape marked by 16 active volcanoes, it splits the Pacific Ocean on one side from the Sea of Okhotsk on the other.

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