Russia passenger plane that went missing in Siberia found after hard landing with ‘all passengers alive’

A Russian passenger plane that went missing in Siberia outside the city of Tomsk on Friday has been found after it made a hard landing, according to state media reports.

While the emergencies ministry said there are survivors among the 17 people who were on board the Antonov An-28 aircraft, it didn’t give a definite number, according to Reuters.

But Sputnik and the RIA news agency said that all passengers were safe.

The TASS news agency had quoted sources as saying the 17 people included four children and three crew members. It identified the Antonov An-28, which was going to Tomsk from the town of Kedrovy, as belonging to the Siberian Light Aviation airline.

The plane went off the radar in the Bakcharsky district of Tomsk, emergency services were quoted as saying by Sputnik.

Emergency services launched a search operation for the plane. The Tomsk region’s governor Sergei Zhvachkin said two helicopters were dispatched for the search for the aircraft.

Officials said that the plane’s crew did not report any problem before the disappearance. But the plane’s emergency beacon went off, an indication that it had a forced landing or crashed, according to The Associated Press.

This incident comes just days after an Antonov An-26 plane carrying 28 people, including six crew members, crashed in Russia’s far east. Officials said there were no survivors from that incident.