KIEV, Ukraine - A Russian passenger jet with at least 170 people aboard crashed Tuesday in Ukraine after sending a distress signal, authorities said. A news agency reported no survivors and that Russian officials had ruled out terrorism.

The Pulkovo airlines Tupolev 154, en route from the Russian Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg, disappeared from radar screens over Ukraine about 2:30 p.m., officials said.

A Russian passenger jet with at least 170 people on board crashed in Ukraine on Tuesday. The Pulkovo airlines Tupolev 154 plane was en route from the Russian Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg when it sent a distress signal and disappeared from radar. the Russian emergencies ministry said. It was the third major air disaster in the region this year. [AP]

Minutes later, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said wreckage from the plane was found on the ground.

The Interfax news agency quoted Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Igor Krol as saying a fire broke out on the plane at 32,800 feet and that the crew decided to try to make an emergency landing. However, it also quoted Russian aviation official Alexander Neradko as saying that the plane might have run into strong turbulence.

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andriyanova said she received information that "the plane most likely was hit by lightning."

"There was no damage on the ground. After it fell, it broke apart and burst into flames," Andriyanova said in televised comments.

Interfax cited witnesses as saying the plane was intact when it hit the ground. The RIA-Novosti news agency later quoted Andriyanova as saying "terrorism has been ruled out."

Andriyanova said 30 bodies had been found. She said there were 171 people aboard: 160 passengers, including six children, and 11 crew members. Ukrainian officials said there were 160 passengers and 10 crew members on board. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.

RIA-Novosti quoted Ukrainian emergency officials as saying there were no survivors.

Tetyana Lytvynova, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry, could not immediately confirm the report.

The plane disappeared from radar screens two minutes after the crew sent a distress signal, said Yulia Stadnikova, another Russian spokeswoman.

Rescuers were working at the site of the crash, found near the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, about 400 miles east of Kiev, Ukrainian officials said.

Pulkovo airlines, among Russia's largest carriers, is based in St. Petersburg.

It was the third major plane crash in the region this year, and came less than two months after at least 124 people died when an Airbus A-310 of the Russian carrier S7 skidded off a runway and burst into flames on July 9 in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.

On May 3, an A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia crashed into the Black Sea while trying to land in the Russian resort city of Sochi in rough weather, killing all 113 people aboard.

Russian-made Tu-154s are widely used by Russian airlines for many regional flights.