A missing Russian passenger plane with 49 people on board has been found crashed near the border with China with no survivors.

The An-24 plane, operated by Siberia-based Angara airline, was bound for Tynda when it went missing over the Amur region in Eastern Russia.

Burning wreckage was found on a mountainside just nine miles from its destination with no survivors found, RIA Novosti reports.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations said: ‘During the search operations, the Mi-8 helicopter of the Federal Air Transport Agency discovered the fuselage of the plane, which is on fire.

‘Rescuers continue to proceed to the scene of the incident.’

A search party was forced to go out on foot after a rescue helicopter was unable to land near the site, with footage showing an Mi-8 rescue aircraft flying above the rural area.

Regional governor Vasily Orlov said there were 43 passengers, including five children and six crew members, on board.

He wrote on Telegram: ‘All necessary forces and means have been deployed to search for the plane.’

A hotline for passengers’ relatives has been set up.

The plane was just a few miles away from its destination when it lost contact and dropped off radar screens.

There was low cloud and rain in the area, and the model of aircraft is more than 50 years old.

The flight first vanished as it approached the airport, with emergency services unable to make contact.

Emergency services told Interfax at the time: ‘The An-24 plane was flying the Khabarovsk-Blagoveshchensk-Tynda route. Near the final point, it failed to check in. There is no contact with it.’

A criminal case has been opened regarding the disappearance of the plane, said the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Transport.

The An-24 is a twin turboprop transport aircraft developed in the Soviet Union during the late 1950s.

The plane was designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in Kyiv, Ukraine (then part of the USSR)

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