MOSCOW - A passenger plane with 36 people aboard skidded off runway in Blagoveshchensk in Russia's Far East on Monday, leaving at least 15 people injured.

The Antonov-24 plane missed the runway upon landing in heavy rain at 8:25 am Moscow time (0425 GMT), local emergencies ministry said.

According to preliminary data, poor visibility and strong wind might be the cause of the accident.

Skidding about 200 meters off the runway into a forest zone, the aircraft was heavily damaged as its left wing being torn off and the right wing broken. A fuel leak has also been reported, said the local ministry.

Seven injured persons including a women and a child have been sent to hospital, said Itar-Tass news agency.

"Psychologists are working with the passengers," a spokeswoman from the local emergencies department said.

Amur regional government has formed a special commission to investigate the circumstances of the incident.

The plane, en route from Irkutsk to Khabarovsk, had stopovers in Chita and Blagoveshchensk.

The An-24 aircraft have been involved in a series of fatal accidents over the past few years. On July 11, an An-24 plane made an emergency landing on a river in Siberia, killing six people and injuring dozens of others.