An-26 crashes into rock in Kamchatka, all 28 on board reported dead

The Antonov An-26 aircraft may have crashed in Kamchatka because of strong gushes of side wind, deputy director of Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise Sergei Gorb said, RIA Novosti reports.

According to Gorb, the plane crashed into a coastal rock from the direction of the sea, even though the rock was not part of its landing trajectory. 

Most of the plane wreckage was found on the coastal strip at the foot of the rock, whereas parts of the nose part of the aircraft were found in the sea. 

Earlier, it was reported that the An-26 aircraft could have crashed into a rock. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the wreckage of the aircraft was found 4-5 kilometers from the runway. Rescue works on the crash site are difficult to conduct due to the nature of the local landscape.

There were 28 people, including six crew members, on board the aircraft. According to unconfirmed reports, the crash has left no survivors. The aircraft was flying from the city of  Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Palana, but its landing was prevented by difficult weather conditions in the airport area. There were Palana residents, as well as officials of the local administration on board the crash airplane. 

“According to preliminary reports, the head of the mobilization department of the administration, Alexander Andreikin, and his wife Olga Andreikina, who headed the financial department, were on the plane,” a source told TASS. Olga Mokhireva , the head of the village, was also among the passengers of the crashed plane.