Four killed, four badly injured in plane crash in Siberia

[June 19, 2021]    MOSCOW (Reuters) - Four people were killed and four badly injured on Saturday when a small plane crashed in Russia's Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia, the local emergency medical service said.

A view shows the wreckage of an L-410 plane that crashed near the Tanay aerodrome, which provides parachuting services, in Kemerovo Region, Russia June 19, 2021. Investigative Committee of Russia/Handout via REUTERS

TASS news agency earlier said at least seven people were killed when the twin-engine L-410 crashed near the Tanay aerodrome, which provides parachuting services.

It also cited the local prosecutors' office as saying the crew had sent a distress signal about engine failure.

A medical services spokesman told Reuters the injured were being airlifted to hospitals.

Social media showed pictures of the heavily-damaged plane with an ambulance nearby.

A spokesman at a Siberian branch of Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia said a search and rescue operation was under way, declining to provide details.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Nandakumar D in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and John Stonestreet)

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