All 49 aboard crashed Russian plane confirmed dead: authorities

VLADIVOSTOK -- All the 49 people aboard the Russian passenger plane that crashed near Russia's Far Eastern city of Tynda were confirmed dead, Russia's Investigative Committee (IC) said on Thursday.

"Everyone on board the aircraft has died," Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson of the IC, said on its Telegram channel.

The An-24 aircraft, operated by Angara Airlines, was en route from Khabarovsk to Tynda with a stopover in Blagoveshchensk. The aircraft was expected to contact air traffic controllers at a control checkpoint near Tynda airport, but failed to check in. The wreckage was later found on a mountainside approximately 15 km from the city of Tynda.

There were 43 passengers on board and six crew members, Amur Oblast Governor Vasily Orlov said on the social media platform Telegram.

Among the passengers was a Chinese citizen, the Chinese Consulate General in Khabarovsk said. The consulate will send a working group to the crash site on Friday to assist with follow-ups.