11 missing after Russia loses military plane

Russia News.Net
Saturday 7th November, 2009

A Russian military plane with eleven people on board has crashed during a combat training excercise.

The Russian Minsistry of Defence in Moscow said Saturday it believed all on board the plane, which was part of the Russian Pacific Fleet, had been killed.

Describing the crash as an accident, defence officials said the plane, a Tupolev-142 (similar to that pictured), came down in the eastern Khabarovsk region around 14:15 Moscow time Friday.

”According to information on the air disaster, all the crew have probably been killed,” a military official was quoted by the Interfax newsagency as saying.

”Rescue operations are ongoing at the scene and the chances of finding survivors are slim,” the spokesman said.

The aircraft, according to the ministry, was flying across a lake when radio contact was disrupted.

Wreckage of the plane was located on Saturday morning. The search for survivors goes on despite the slim chance that any of the passengers or crew survived.

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