An overloaded cargo plane carrying 19 people and tons of vegetables crashed Friday while trying to take off from an airport in Russia's Far East, authorities said. Seven people were killed.
It was the second fatal plane crash in Russia this week. There have been more than a dozen aviation disasters over the past year and a half in the former Soviet Union, and more than 500 people have died.The twin-engine turboprop Antonov-8 went down at the Chaibukha Airport in the Khabarovsk region, said Anatoly Streltsov, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations.
Streltsov said the plane was unable to get off the ground, sped off the runway and plunged into a pit.
Among the 19 people aboard were 12 passengers, including four children, and seven crew members.