The Greek navy and air force are continuing a search for the wreckage of a Ukrainian airliner which crashed into the snow-covered mountains around the town of Salonika with more than 70 people on board.

The Ukraine Airlines Yak-42, on a flight from Kiev via Odessa, vanished from radar screens in bad weather after establishing contact with Salonika's control tower.

Shortly afterwards, villagers reported seeing a bright light and hearing a loud explosion.

Leona Alexandri has the latest update on the search

An Air Force C-130 plane and naval rescue craft took part in the search, which was concentrated south-west of Salonica in the area of Mount Olympus.

Greek journalist Leona Alexandri said it was certain the plane had crashed.

"We have live information from a farmer and several local farmers in the region. They had heard a very loud explosion and they saw a strong light exactly by the time the plane was reported lost from the radar."

David Learmount, from Flight International

Weather conditions, she added, had been "not very good" at the time.

"What was reported is that there was something wrong with the compass of the plane. This report was given by the tower of Thesaloniki airport. The compass of the plane was in 230 degrees. I don't know what this means technically. But something was supposed to be wrong with the compass of the plane."

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