As many as 16 people were killed on Sunday after an L-410 plane carrying parachutists crashed in central Russia's Tatarstan region.

The plane that was carrying 23 people, including 21 parachute divers, crashed  near the town of Menzelinsk in the Republic of Tatarstan at around 9:23 am local time, as per local media reports. Of 23, seven people were pulled alive from the wreckage, the emergencies ministry said, AFP reported.

The remaining sixteen were taken out of the debris "without signs of life," a representative of the emergency services told the RIA Novosti news agency.

"Four more people have been rescued by fire and rescue teams, work continues. Overall, seven people have been rescued," TASS news agency quoted a source as saying.

"This information has not been confirmed, access to the plane’s half-ruined fuselage is impeded," the source added.

An ageing Antonov An-26 transport plane crashed in the Russian far east last month killing six people. All 28 people on board an Antonov An-26 twin-engine turboprop died in a crash in Kamchatka in July.