A spot check on Angara Airlines, which operated the Antonov An-24 plane which crashed in Russia's far east on Thursday killing all 48 on board, had uncovered serious safety violations a month beforehand,

Russian officials say 48 people were killed when an Angara Airlines plane went down in a dense forest in the far-eastern Amur region. The Antonov An-24 plane, carrying 42 passengers and six crew, had left Blagoveshchensk close to the Chinese border and vanished from radar screens as it approached Tynda airport, officials said.