Russian passenger plane goes missing in far east

Air traffic controllers lost contact on Thursday with an An-24 passenger plane carrying about 50 people in Russia's far east, according to RT. 

The An-24 twin turboprop passenger plane, operated by Siberia-based airline Angara, went missing during a trip over Amur Region on Thursday, the governor of the Far Eastern Russian region reported.

The aircraft was taking 43 passengers, including five children, from Blagoveshchensk to Tynda, a flight of roughly 570 km, RT reported citing the Amur governor Vasily Orlov. There were four crew members aboard, he added. An Interfax report, however, said that the plane was carrying 40 passengers and 6 crew members. 

Emergency services reported that the plane went off radar several kilometers away from its destination. A search and rescue operation is currently underway, according to RT.