ROSTOV-ON-DON, November 24. /TASS/. A passenger plane made an emergency landing at the airport of Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia, after the second pilot’s condition had deteriorated, a source in the regional emergencies services told TASS on Sunday.

"The plane took off from Sheremetyevo [airport in Moscow]. At around 10 a.m. the second pilot felt sick, an emergency landing was requested and the pilot, born in 1970, died," the source said.

"A preliminary cause of death is heart attack," he added.

The Aeroflot plane, en route from Moscow to Anapa, landed at Platov International Airport at 9.57 a.m. After the landing, the pilot received medical assistance, but doctors failed to save him. Neither passengers nor crew members were hurt in the incident.

The Russian Investigative Committee’s southern investigative department has launched a probe.

Aeroflot has expressed condolences to the relatives and friends of the pilot. The airline explained that the captain had made a decision to land in Rostov-on-Don in order to provide urgent medical assistance to the second pilot. However, doctors failed to save the man and he died in an ambulance vehicle.