MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. The wreckage of the An-26 plane that crashed in Kamchatka fell into the Sea of Okhotsk, a source in the emergency services told TASS on Tuesday.

"The debris fell into the Sea of Okhotsk after the plane hit a rock, which will significantly complicate the search operation," the source stated.

The circumstances of the crash have been preliminarily determined, he added.

"The plane started landing in difficult weather conditions, with poor visibility and a strong side wind. It was unable to land from the first try, and it hit a rock during the second try, having failed to notice it. The plane immediately started disintegrating," the source said.

The An-26 plane from the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Enterprise went missing on July 6. It was headed from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana and carried 22 passengers and six crew members on board. The emergency services source told TASS that the plane stopped communication during its landing. One version suggests that the crash happened because of piloting error due to poor visibility. A criminal case has been initiated over violated rules of safety and air transport use.