The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that one of its planes had crashed in northeast Siberia, but that nobody had been killed in the accident, Russian news agencies reported.

It said 23 people had been airlifted to hospital, 16 of whom were in serious condition.

The Defence Ministry Ilyushin Il-18 aircraft made an emergency landing 30 kilometres (18.64 miles)from an airfield near the town of Tiksi in the Sakha Republic at 4:45 a.m. local time, the TASS news agency reported.