(CNN) – Dozens of people including children are feared dead after a passenger plane went missing in Russia’s far eastern Amur region, Russian state media reported, citing local officials.
The plane, a Soviet-era Antonov An-24, was flying on a regional route from Khabarovsk to Blagoveshchensk and Tynda when it disappeared from the radar, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement posted on Telegram.
The emergency ministry said a search and rescue helicopter dispatched to the area found a burning fuselage of an airplane. It said it was investigating why the plane lost contact.
Vasiliy Orlov, the governor of Amur region, said on Telegram that according to preliminary data, there were 43 passengers, including five children, and six crew members on board the plane.
Citing emergency officials, Russian state news agency TASS said preliminary information indicates that all those aboard the aircraft were dead.
The aircraft was only a few miles from the Tynda airport when it lost contact with air traffic controllers, the emergency ministry added.
Orlov said search and rescue operations were under way, with “all necessary forces and means involved” in the effort. TASS reported the area where the plane went missing is remote and difficult to reach, with no roads through the swampy forest.
The flight was operated by Angara Airlines, a Russian airline that is based in Irkutsk in Siberia.
This is a developing story and will be updated.