TASS reported the aircraft’s airworthiness certificate was due to end on August 30 this year. It belongs to the Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, an airline based in Yelizovo, Russia.

The plane was on approach for landing when contact was lost about 10 kilometres away from Palana’s airport. The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was aboard the flight, spokespeople of the Kamchatka government said.

Four people died when an AN-26 military transport aircraft crashed at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan, in March, the Agence-France Presse reported.

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 a landing in Palana. A total of 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.

Reuters, AP