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A passenger plane crashed in northeast China late today, overshooting the runway and bursting into flames, killing at least 42 of 96 people onboard in what was the nation's worst air disaster for years.

The Henan Airlines plane crashed at 10.10 pm (1410 GMT) in Yichun, a small city in Heilongjiang province, after flying from Harbin, the province's capital, state media said.