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Passenger plane with 71 aboard crashes near Moscow, Russian officials say

Saratov Airlines flight 703, from Moscow's Domodedovo airport to the city of Orsk on the Kazakhstan border, was carrying 65 passengers and six crew members, a Federal Air Transport Agency spokesman said on Rossiya-24 television. The plane lost radio contact seven minutes after takeoff, the spokesman said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. None of the people aboard the Antonov An-148 jet were believed to have survived, the Interfax news agency quoted an emergency-service source as saying.

Authorities spotted the wreckage in a field outside Moscow, the RIA Novosti news agency said. Witnesses reported seeing a falling airplane in flames, Interfax said.