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The L-410 plane, which was carrying 22 people, crashed around 9 pm 23 min. local (and Lithuanian) time near the city of Menzelinsk in Tatarstan, the ministry said on its channel on the Telegram platform.
“Six people have been rescued, 16 have been removed without signs of life,” the ministry said.
Earlier, the ministry announced that 15 people had died and 23 people had flown on that plane.
Menzelinsko Aeroclub organizes parachute jumps for amateurs, but also organizes championships and training for astronauts.
Photos released by the Ministry of Emergency Situations show a half-broken plane with a devastated front end.
Six survivors were taken to hospital, the local health ministry told Interfax.
The President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minichanov, who arrived at the crash site, said the pilots reported an engine failure and requested permission to make an emergency landing shortly after take-off.
According to him, the plane tried to avoid the nearby settlement, but “the height did not allow it.”
The plane overturned the parked van and it flipped over.
All the survivors were in the back of the plane, flying club instructor Oleg Shiporov told TASS.
Russian officials have launched a criminal investigation for a violation of security rules.
Mourning was declared in Tatarstan on Monday.
“Astronauts train here”
According to Interfax, the plane belonged to the Russian Army, Aviation and Navy Voluntary Assistance Society, which calls itself a sports and defense organization.
The organization was founded in the third decade of the last century, and its airfields trained the first man in space in 1961: Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin.
Ravil Nurmuchametov, director of the Menzelinsky Parachute Club, said that the flying club could not be blamed for the accident.
“We are the best, we are one of the five best clubs,” Nurmuchametov told TASS. He added that the club has organized European and world championships.
“The astronauts are training here,” he emphasized.
TASS quoted a source as saying that the state’s Astronaut Training Center had temporarily suspended work with that club pending an investigation.
In 2018, during the group free fall jump, two amateur paratroopers were killed in the Menzelinsk aeroclipse.
The Czech-made L-410 light aircraft was one of two aircraft used by the club, according to its website.
Earlier this year, there were two L-410 plane crashes in Russia that claimed a total of eight lives.
Russia was known for air crashes, but the air safety situation has improved in recent years as major airlines have replaced Soviet planes with modern planes.
However, poor maintenance and safety regulations in the outermost regions often lead to light aircraft accidents and sometimes large-scale tragedies.
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