Contact has been disrupted with a passenger plane, An-26, carrying around 28 passengers in Russia’s Far Eastern peninsula of Kamchatka.The plane was travelling from Kamchatka’s main city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the town of Palana where it failed to land on the scheduled time, Valentina Glazova, a spokeswoman for the local transport prosecutor’s office, told AFP.29 people that included 23 passengers and 6 crew members were on board, she added. When local officials were interviewed they said that there were 28 passengers, with 6 crew members,and at least one or two children.The plane was controlled by a local aviation company in Kamchatka, a vast peninsula in Russia’s extreme Far East on the Pacific Ocean.”Search and rescue efforts are underway,” she said. “All that is known at this time, what has been possible to establish, is that communication with the plane was interrupted and it did not land.”The reporters said that at least two helicopters and an entire rescue team are trying to trace the plane and are ready to help the passengers.The conflicting analysis of what were the possible consequences are being reported , with one such report giving predictions to news agency TASS that the plane could have crashed into the sea, and another telling Interfax that it may have gone down near a coal mine close to Palana.Russia was infamous for air accidents,but had recently been trying to destigmatize its reputation by improvising air traffic safety. However, deplorable air accident records still prevail.The last major accident took place two years ago in the month of May, when a Sukhoi Superjet had a harsh landing and immediately transformed into a burning wreckage killing 41 people on board.
