At least five persons were killed after an Antonov-12 transport plane crash-landed near Lviv Airport in western Ukraine on Friday morning.

Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister, Vladislav Krikliy said the Ukraine Air Alliance plane ran out of fuel before a planned stopover at Lviv, en route from Vigo in Spain to Istanbul, Turkey.

The country’s Emergencies Ministry said the plane had a crew of seven, with one other person escorting the cargo. It however did not disclose what that cargo was.

Ukraine’s Unian news agency described the aircraft as a military cargo plane which had been scheduled to refuel in Lviv.

The Soviet-designed four-engine plane vanished from radar at 07:10 local time as it approached Lviv International Airport. It crashed about 1.5 kilometres from the airport and did not catch fire.

The plane came down on soil and vegetation near a football stadium and a cemetery located near the Lviv Airport which has been closed as a result of the crash.