13 May 2012

Searchers able to land near crashed Russian plane

7:58 am on 13 May 2012

Improved weather has allowed search and rescue helicopters in Indonesia to land near where a Russian airliner crashed into a mountain during a demonstration flight.

Rescue workers are having to use ropes and climbing equipment to scale the side of Mount Salak, a dormant volcano south of Jakarta, to recover remains of the at least 44 people who were on board, the BBC reports.

Investigators are still looking for the flight recorder.

The Superjet-100 aircraft is Russia's first new civilian airliner since the fall of the Soviet Union.

When it took off on Wednesday the plane was carrying more than 40 guests, including potential buyers, Russian embassy officials and journalists.