An aircraft carrying post and other parcels for Norway Post has crashed on the border of Norway and Sweden.

The Bombardier CRJ200PF, owned by West Atlantic, operated on behalf of Posten Norge, was on its way from Oslo to Tromso when it declared a mayday at 23.31h on 7 January. The crash site was located at 03.10h on 8 January near the Norwegian border by Lake Akkajaure in Sweden’s Lapplandsfjallen. It had been transporting mail, small parcels and express parcels.

Posten Norge chief executive officer, Dag Mejdell says: “Although we still do not have a complete overview of the accident, there is no doubt that this has been a very serious accident. Our thoughts are with the families and colleagues of the missing pilots.”

The aircraft, registration SE-DUX, was built in 1993 and had flown 38,601 hours since then. West Atlantic, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, had operated the aircraft since 2007 and flown it for about 10,000 hours. There were two crew members on board, the captain was 42 years old and had been with the company since 2011, while the 34 year old first officer had been with the airline since 2008.

In response to the accident, Posten Norge and West Atlantic have cancelled the planned mail flight to Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.