Ndege ya abiria yaanguka, watu 32 wamekufa

A passenger plane crashed in Siberia shortly after taking off on Monday morning, killing 32 of the 43 people on board, Russian emergency officials said.

The 11 survivors were hospitalised in serious condition.

The aircraft went down on a snowy field outside Tyumen, a major regional center in Siberia. The cause of the crash was not yet clear.

Tragic: A medium-haul UTair-operated ATR-72 turboprop, similar to the one pictured, crashed 18 miles from the city of Tyumen, Siberia, shortly after takeoff from Moscow

The Emergency Situations Ministry said 12 survivors were flown to a hospital by helicopter, but one of them died there.

The UTair company twin-engine turboprop flying to Surgut is said to have burst into flames shortly after take-off.

'The plane took off from Roschino airport, near Tyumen, towards Surgut (also in Siberia). According to preliminary information there were 39 passengers and four crew members aboard,' a ministry spokesman told the Interfax news agency.

Sixteen bodies have so far been recovered by a team of nearly 200 rescue workers. Children are reported among the victims, according to Russia Today, quoting the Ministry's report.

Survivors have been taken to hospitals in Tyumen by helicopter and are said to have sustained serious injuries.

UTair published a list of the passengers and crew, and none of them appeared to be foreigners.

Connection with the medium-haul ATR-72, a French-Italian-made plane, was lost before the crash, according to RT.com.

A criminal probe has been launched into the incident.