LAST UPDATE | 6 Jul 2021

A WRECKAGE HAS been found after a plane with 28 people on board went missing in the Russian far-east region of Kamchatka, local officials have said.

An Antonov An-26 plane with 22 passengers and six crew flying from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana missed a scheduled communication, local emergency officials said.

It also disappeared from the radars, the local transport ministry said.

The governor of Kamchatka, Vladimir Solodov, told the Interfax news agency that the main body of the plane was found on the Okhotsk Sea coast, while other wreckage was found in the sea.

The plane was coming in for landing when contact was lost about six miles away from Palana’s airport.

The head of the government in Palana Olga Mokhireva was on board, the Kamchatka government said.

The plane belonged to a company called Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise.

An investigation has been launched and two helicopters and a plane have been deployed to inspect the missing plane’s route, officials said.

In 2012, an Antonov An-28 plane belonging to Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise crashed into a mountain while flying from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk and coming in for landing in Palana.

14 people were on board and 10 of them were killed. Both pilots, who were among the dead, were found to have alcohol in their blood, Tass reported.