At least 31 people were killed when a Russian plane carrying 43 passengers and crew members crashed in Siberia this morning. The ATR-72 turboprop plane owned by UTair had just left Tyumen on a flight north to the oil town of Surget when it went down. The cause is unknown. Twelve people were airlifted to hospitals, and at least five of them were critically injured, reports the BBC. Russia has experienced an extraordinary number of air accidents. Last year the nation witnessed a 53% increase in crashes and a fourfold boost in deaths in civilian planes alone. Fifteen planes crashed, killing 120 people in 2011. (More Russia stories.)