Siberia plane crash kills 31 of 43 people on board (VIDEO)

A Russian plane crashed in Siberia shortly after takeoff, killing 31 people, BBC said. Twelve people survived the crash and have been taken to hospital, officials from Russia's emergencies ministry said Monday.

The flight, operated by Russia's UTair, crashed about 20 miles from the western Siberian city Tyumen.

It had been en route from an airport near Tyumen to Surgut, an oil town to the north. 

Reuters said 39 passengers and four crew members were on board the ATR-72 turbo-prop plane. Earlier reports said 32 people had died in the crash, but the number has since been revised.

The 12 survivors were in critical condition, Tyumen's emergency situations ministry said in an updated statement, Agence France-Presse reported.

The cause of the crash is not yet clear. Russian news agencies said the plane disappeared from their radar screens at around 05:30 a.m. local time. 

Rescuers found the plane's cabin on fire when they arrived at the crash site, AFP said. 

Investigators already have located the plane's data recorders, CNN said. 

Russia's aviation industry has been plagued by accidents, many of them high-profile. Last year, one of Russia's top hockey teams was killed in a plane crash about 150 miles north of Moscow.

More from GlobalPost: Russian jet carrying hockey team crashes

The BBC describes air safety in Russia as "notoriously bad." 

In 2010, a plane carrying Poland's president Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Russian city Smolensk, killing al 96 people who were on board. 

More from GlobalPost: Rwanda's economic miracle