Rescue workers pulled 10 bodies today from the wreckage of a Russian aircraft that crashed on a flight from the Siberia to Moscow with 25 people onboard, the Emergencies Ministry said.
The Ilyushin IL-18 turboprop came down after disappearing from radar screens at 9.24 p.m. (6.24 p.m. Irish time) last night, the ministry said.
More than 100 rescue workers were sent to the crash site 20 kilometres from the village of Kalyazin, in the Tver region, north of Moscow.
All 25 people - 18 passengers and seven crew - on board the plane were presumed dead after the Ilyushin IL-18 aircraft crashed four-and-a-half hours into its flight to Moscow from the far north town of Khatanga.
Krasnoyarsk transport chief Mr Viktor Ossipov said he did not rule out the possibility that an act of terrorism may have caused the crash but said this was one of many leads being investigated.
"At the moment that the plane, travelling at 7,800 metres [25,000 feet], disappeared from radar screens, a bright glow was seen and a strong explosion was heard," said Mr Ossipov, quoting local witness accounts.
A terrorist act "is only one of the possibilities, but it is impossible to rule it out," Mr Ossipov said.
AFP