15 died in a plane crash in Russia

Moscow: L-410 Turbolet aircraft crashed in Russia’s Tatarstan on Sunday, killed 15 people. The flight, which had 23 people on board, crashed at about 9:11 am (Moscow time) in the city of Menzelinsk.

According to TASS, seven people have been rescued so far. Reportedly, out of the 23 passengers, 21 of them were parachute divers, “Seven people were rescued, 15 people were taken out without signs of life,” AFP quoted Russia’s emergency ministry as saying on its Telegram channel.

“Four more people have been rescued by fire and rescue teams, work continues. Overall, seven people have been rescued,” a source said to TASS.

“This information has not been confirmed, access to the plane’s half-ruined fuselage is impeded,” the source added.

Cosmonauts use the area for training and the aeroclub has hosted local, European and world championships, the club’s director Ravil Nurmukhametov was said to TASS. The state-run Cosmonaut Training Facility has suspended its ties with the aeroclub pending an investigation, a source said to TASS.

The RIA agency cited local authorities as saying one of the engines could have failed. Russian aviation safety standards have improved in recent years but accidents, especially involving ageing planes in far-flung regions, are not uncommon.

Last month, an ageing Antonov An-26 transport plane crashed in the Russian far east, killing six people.

All 28 people on board an Antonov An-26 twin-engine turboprop died in a crash in Kamchatka in July.

The country also frequently experiences non-fatal air incidents that result in rerouted flights and emergency landings, usually stemming from technical issues.

Flying in Russia can be particularly dangerous in the vast country’s isolated regions, such as the Arctic and the Far East, where weather conditions are frequently extreme.