Medvedev orders investigation into crashed plane

MOSCOW - Russian new Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered to investigate the crash of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 commercial plane in Indonesia, the Russian government said Thursday.

"Medvedev instructed the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Foreign Ministry and the United Aircraft Corporation to arrange efforts to investigate the incident in accordance with the established procedure," the government said.

Earlier, several Russian officials and experts had left for Indonesia after the Russian-made airplane carrying at least 46 people on board went missing in West Java, Indonesia on Wednesday afternoon.

Rescuers have seen the wreckage of the missing plane at the slope of a mountain of Gunung Salak in Bogor regency of West Java on Thursday morning.

A source, which works at the Jakarta airport, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying that people on board were found dead at the crash scene.

However, no further official details were published.

Taking off from Indonesian airbase Halim Perdana Kusuma in East Jakarta , the plane lost contact at 14:25 local time (0725 GMT) while trying to descend from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet near a small airport in Bogor on its way back to the airbase.

Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a regional 100-seat plane developed by the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft with the participation of Italy's Alenia Aermacchi.

The plane is conducting its road show "Welcome Asia!" in several central and southeastern Asian countries. It has already made demonstration flights in Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Myanmar and was expected to fly to Laos and Vietnam.