Wreckage of a plane carrying nearly 50 people has been discovered scattered across Russia’s far east after the aircraft suddenly vanished in an attempt to land.

Five children were believed to have been among the dozens aboard the AN-24 aircraft when it slipped off radars in Russia just outside the town of Tynda, in Amur Oblast.

Wreckage from the flight, which had departed from Blagoveshchensk, was spotted by an Mi-8 rescue helicopter, officials said, with emergency services yet to confirm whether there were any survivors.

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An Antonov An-24 passenger plane carrying about 50 people crashed in Russia’s far east on Thursday (local time) and initial information suggested that everyone on board was killed, Russian emergency services officials said.

The burning fuselage of the plane, which was from the Soviet era and was nearly 50 years old, was spotted on the ground by a helicopter and rescue crews were rushing to the scene.

Unverified video, shot from a helicopter and posted on social media, appeared to show that the plane had come down in a densely forested area.

The plane, whose tail number showed it was built in 1976, was operated by a Siberia-based airline called Angara.

It was en route from the city of Blagoveshchensk to Tynda and dropped off radar screens while approaching Tynda, a remote town in the Amur region bordering China.

There were 43 passengers, including five children, and six crew members on board according to preliminary data, Vasily Orlov, the regional governor said.

The emergencies ministry put the number of people on board somewhat lower, at around 40.

Debris from the plane was found on a hill around 15km from Tynda, the Interfax news agency quoted emergency service officials as saying.

“During the search operation, a Mi-8 helicopter belonging to Rossaviatsiya discovered the fuselage of the aircraft, which was on fire,” Yuliya Petina, an emergency services official, wrote on Telegram.

“Rescuers continue to make their way to the scene of the accident”.

Authorities announced an investigation into the crash.

Flight AI171, bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, crashed moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad, in India’s western state of Gujarat. There was only one survivor from the 242 onboard, and dozens of people on the ground were also killed.

In a sign of the alarm caused by the crash, India’s aviation regulators ordered Air India on Friday to carry out “additional maintenance actions” on its Boeing 787 fleet. The aviation minister said there were 34 such planes in India, eight of which had already undergone the new inspections. He said the rest would be inspected “with immediate urgency.”

It could be months before a definitive explanation emerges, but videos of the accident and other evidence have begun to offer clues about what might have brought down the plane. Among the initial questions: whether the plane’s wing flaps and slats were properly extended, and why the landing gear, which creates drag, remained down.

Distraught relatives waited at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, the city’s main medical facility, to claim the bodies of their loved ones for funerals. By late Friday, fewer than a dozen bodies had been released, as medical staff ran DNA tests to determine identities.

Rafeek Abdul Aziz Ahmed, who was among the relatives at the hospital, said that his nephew, who had been working as a hotel manager in London, died in the crash along with his wife and their two young children. Mr. Ahmed said the wait was becoming excruciating, as the government had not said when the bodies might be released.

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Almost 50 people including children are feared dead after a Soviet-era passenger plane crashed in Russia’s far eastern Amur region, state media reported on Thursday, citing local officials.

The plane, an 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 Amur Center for Civil Defence and Fire Safety said on Telegram that a search and rescue helicopter spotted the wreck of the plane on a mountain slope 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Tynda. It said no survivors were seen from the air.

It said that according to the director of the Tynda airport, the plane caught fire after it crashed.

The emergency ministry said it is investigating why the plane lost contact, and the Interstate Aviation Committee launched a probe.

According to publicly available databases, the aircraft was built in 1976. The Antonov AN-24 model was designed in 1957.

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.

An Antonov An-24 passenger plane carrying about 50 people crashed in Russia’s far east on Thursday (local time) and initial information suggested that everyone on board was killed, Russian emergency services officials said.

The burning fuselage of the plane, which was from the Soviet era and was nearly 50 years old, was spotted on the ground by a helicopter and rescue crews were rushing to the scene.

Unverified video, shot from a helicopter and posted on social media, appeared to show that the plane had come down in a densely forested area.

The plane, whose tail number showed it was built in 1976, was operated by a Siberia-based airline called Angara.

It was en route from the city of Blagoveshchensk to Tynda and dropped off radar screens while approaching Tynda, a remote town in the Amur region bordering China.

There were 43 passengers, including five children, and six crew members on board according to preliminary data, Vasily Orlov, the regional governor said.

The emergencies ministry put the number of people on board somewhat lower, at around 40.

Debris from the plane was found on a hill around 15km from Tynda, the Interfax news agency quoted emergency service officials as saying.

“During the search operation, a Mi-8 helicopter belonging to Rossaviatsiya discovered the fuselage of the aircraft, which was on fire,” Yuliya Petina, an emergency services official, wrote on Telegram.

“Rescuers continue to make their way to the scene of the accident”.

Authorities announced an investigation into the crash.