A Russian airliner carrying at least 170 people has crashed in eastern Ukraine.

Russia's emergency situations ministry said that initial information was that everyone on the aeroplane was dead.

The airliner was flying from the Black Sea resort of Anapa to Saint Petersburg when it disappeared from radar screens after issuing an SOS, the emergency ministry said.

The wreckage of the Tupolev Tu-154 has been found about 45km north of Donestk. An official said that 30 bodies had already been recovered.

Igor Krol, a spokeman for the Ukrainian emergencies ministry, told 5th Channel television that, according to preliminary information, a fire had broken out in the plane at an altitutde of 10,000m. The crew had then decided to make an emergency landing.

The plane belongs to Pulkovo airlines which is based in St Petersburg.

The Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russia's air traffic controllers' service as saying that the airliner went down after entering an area of severe turbulence.

Photo Caption

Tupolev Tu-154 Plane