MOSCOW: A Russian AN-26 airplane with nearly 30 people on board went missing in the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east, the country’s emergencies ministry said on Tuesday. The plane, on the way from regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana in the northern part of the peninsula, lost contact with air traffic control during the flight, the ministry said. It added search and rescue teams were on their way to the area. There were 22 passengers and six crew members on board, the ministry said.

The report said the 28 onboard included six crew members and that there were one or two children among the passengers. With ambiguity in reports of actual state of affairs, with one source telling TASS the plane could have crashed into the sea and another telling Interfax it may have gone down near a coal mine close to the town of Palana.

However, A search had been launched involving at least two helicopters and rescue workers were on standby, the reports said. Russia, once notorious for plane accidents, has improved its air traffic safety record in recent years.  

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