MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Crash responders have found more than 2,000 fragments of the Antonov An-148 passenger plane at its crash site in the Moscow region, a source in the regional branch of the Russian Emergencies Ministry told TASS.

"As of 06:00 Moscow time (03:00 GMT), a total of 2,079 fragments of the plane have been found and collected, with over 1,500 of them found in the past 24 hours," the source said, adding that the plane wreckage would be handed over to the Interstate Aviation Committee for examination.

The search operation at the crash site continues, its area has been expanded to 45 hectares.

On February 11, an Antonov An-148 passenger aircraft, operated by Saratov Airlines, which was en route to the town of Orsk, crashed several minutes after taking off from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, killing all 71 people aboard. The aircraft wreckage was found near the Stepanovskoye settlement in the Ramensky District, Moscow region.