A small airliner is missing in the far east of Russia. It concerns an AN-26 with 28 people on board the Kamchatka Aviation company. The Antonov was on a regional flight from Petropavlovsk to Palana when contact with air traffic control was lost. Both places are located on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Rescue teams have been dispatched. Two helicopters and an airplane are looking for the aircraft. There were 22 passengers and 6 crew members on board the twin-engine plane, the responsible Russian ministry said. According to Interfax news agency, the weather was cloudy in the area.
The AN-26 is an old, twin-engine aircraft, which came on the market in 1969. In total, over 1,400 of these were produced by the Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov. They were often used as military transport aircraft.
Over the years there have been a number of accidents with it. Last year an AN-26 crashed in Ukraine. 26 people were killed as a result.
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