Forty people died late Monday when a Russian plane crashed onto a highway near Petrozavodsk airport in Karelia, northwest Russia, the emergency situations ministry said as quoted by Russian news agencies.

The RussAir TU-134 carrying 43 passengers and five crew tried to land just before midnight Monday on a motorway two kilometres (a little over a mile) from Petrozavodsk airport, a ministry official said.

But it crashed and caught fire, the official added.

Bodies were strewn over the highway, an aeronautic source told Interfax agency. The aircraft just missed nearby houses when it crashed.