The flight data recorder of the Antonov An-12 plane that crashed in Russia's Irkutsk region on Wednesday has been discovered, an official from the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor's Office told TASS.

"Both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been discovered. The cockpit voice recorder has already been retrieved and the flight data recorder, which was installed at the back of the plane, is to be retrieved," he said.

The An-12 aircraft belonging to the Grodno airline, which was carrying food products from Yakutsk to Irkutsk, disappeared from radar on Wednesday. The plane's wreckage was eventually found near the Pivovarikha settlement seven kilometers from Irkutsk. According to First Deputy Head of the main regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry Andrei Ryabovolov, there were nine people aboard the flight, the remains of six have been found.

According to investigators, the plane could have crashed due to a pilot error, bad weather or a technical failure.