The state aviation agency said that debris was found around 5 kilometers from a runway in an airport on the Okhotsk Sea coast where it was supposed to land.
TASS quoted unnamed sources as saying there were no survivors among the 22 passengers and six crew members aboard the aircraft.
The plane — flying from regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the town of Palana — lost contact with air traffic control while attempting to land.
The plane belonged to a company called Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise, and has been in operation since 1982. The company’s director, Aleksei Khabarov, told the Interfax news agency that the plane was technically sound.
Local authorities said that most of the passengers were from Palana — population of about 3,000 people — including four local government officials and the town’s head, Olga Mokhiryova.
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, according to TASS news agency.
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.
