New satellite photos show what appears to be the charred wreckage of a Russian plane that disappeared in the Far East last week with 97 people aboard, emergency officials said Wednesday.
The remote site near Russia's Pacific coast is covered with deep snow, and spokeswoman Tatyana Timoshenkova of the Emergency Situations Ministry said "it's impossible to tell anything for sure."A team of 11 rescuers flew to the area in a helicopter late Wednesday but was unable to locate the site before darkness fell, the spokeswoman said. A large group is to return Thursday.
Dozens of planes, helicopters and ships have been hunting for the Tupolev-154 jetliner since it vanished last Thursday. It went off radar screens and lost radio contact while traveling in darkness from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island to Khabarovsk on the mainland.
The jetliner belonged to Khabarovsk Airlines - a regional spinoff of Aeroflot - and was carrying 89 passengers and a crew of eight.
The cause of the presumed crash remains a mystery. Officials said the plane was in good condition and well-maintained.