Investigators have recovered three bodies from the scene of a plane crash that killed one of Russia's richest women, her father and their pilot.
German authorities confirmed that two of the people on board the doomed plane were Russian but said the remains had not been formally identified.
Meanwhile investigators from Germany, Russia and the US were inspecting the crash site in the German state of Hesse for clues about why the plane came down.
The crash killed Natalia Fileva, 56, founder of airline S7 and Russia's fourth-richest woman with a fortune of £460million, her company has confirmed.
A man prays next to a bouquet of flowers at the scene of the plane crash in Germany which killed Natalia Fileva, 56, Russia's fourth-richest woman
Investigators from Germany, Russia and the US are now trying to determine what caused the six-seater aircraft to fall from the skies on Sunday
Officials said they have recovered three bodies from the wreck and confirmed two of them are Russian, but did not formally identify them
Mrs Fileva's company, Russian airline S7 which she founded with husband, has confirmed her death and paid tribute to her legacy
Her father Valery Karachev and their pilot Andrey Dikun also died in the tragedy, Russian media reported.
Sources at Mrs Fileva's company said she had been travelling for medical treatment at the time of the crash, around 3.30pm Sunday, but did not give more details.
The cause of the crash is still unclear and is being investigated. The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee confirmed it had sent a team to help.
Inspectors told Bild that an initial report could be expected within six to eight weeks, with a full report to follow. The cause of the crash would only be revealed in the final report.
Efforts to establish a caused are complicated by the fact that small aircraft are not fitted with black box recorders which typically provide investigators with information they rely on to form their conclusions.
Investigators have established that the plane took off from the Mediterranean city of Cannes, a popular holiday destination for rich Russians on the glitzy French Riviera.
The single-engine, six-seat Epic LT aircraft then crashed as it approached the small airport at the German town of Egelsbach near Frankfurt.
Two more people are then believed to have died in a collision with a police vehicle which was responding to the scene.
The victims of the car accident were a 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, police said.
Fileva became known as the 'Iron Lady' of the air industry after amassing a personal fortune of £460million after she founded airline S7 with her husband.
The company, based in Siberia, is Russia's second-largest behind state flag-carrier Aeroflot.
She eschewed the flamboyance of some Russian multi-millionaires after an extraordinary rise from Young Communist activist in Soviet times to Moscow's fourth richest woman.
Her husband and business partner ex-pilot Vladislav Filev, 55, has been called the Russian Elon Musk but she strove to keep her family out of the limelight as she conquered the male-dominated aviation industry in her country.
The couple had four children, one adopted, including two adult girls, say reports.
The aircraft involved was a single-engine, six-seat Epic LT plane, manufactured in America. Pictured, German firefighters douse the remains
Investigators say a preliminary report will be prepared in six to eight weeks ahead of a full report later this year, which will give an exact cause
Fileva was on her way from Cannes to Egelsbach for medical treatment when her plane came down in an asparagus field and burst into flames around 3.30pm on Sunday
An official with Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), the company in charge of air traffic control for Germany, told TASS that the pilot presumably lost control of the aircraft while performing a turn.
'I cannot say for sure what caused the tragedy, but I may presume that the pilot possibly lost control of the aircraft for some reason while performing a turn,' he said.
The turboprop plane was destroyed as it hit the ground in a fireball.
The official said the pilot steered the plane under the Visual Flight Rules (VFR), not instructions from DFS radars, which is a standard procedure when weather conditions are generally good and visibility is sufficient.
S7 issued a statement saying: 'On March 31, 2019, S7 Airlines shareholder Natalia Valeryevna Fileva died at the age of 55 when her private Epic-LT plane was preparing to land at Egelsbach Airport (Frankfurt-on-Main).
'The circumstances of this tragedy are not known.'
The company added that the air disaster would be investigated by an international commission along with Russian air safety authorities.
The German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) has launched an investigation into the accident.
Fileva and her husband gained control of the ailing Siberia Airlines company in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse and built it in to an international carrier which for a decade had been part of the OneWorld Alliance alongside American Airlines, British Airways and Japan Airlines.
In December she had a public blast at official corruption in Russia implying bureaucrats were bribe-takers.
'They don't do business, they are not real people,' she said scornfully. You are talking about fighting corruption.
'And I want to ask where they get money for their suits and shoes? Everyone of them has a suit which costs at least $1000 (USD).'
Fileva had been an activist in the Komsomol - or Young Communists - in the Soviet era.
She trained as a radio mechanic in her native Novosibirsk before getting a second degree in industrial management.
The couple were seen as a highly successful husband and wife business team.
Leading business journalist Renata Yambayeva, said Fileva was 'a true aviator and a real woman'.
'I knew her from the first days when the Filevs purchased Siberia Airlines (later S7). She was always the heart of this business.
Forensic experts and police inspect the burnt out remains of a small plane lie on an asparagus field after it crashed in Germany on Sunday
The remains of a police car which crashed into another vehicle near Frankfurt, on the way to the scene of a plane crash in which a Russian millionaire died
'She was its wings. Back then in a very tough and male-dominated Russian aviation these two aliens not just survived but forced everyone respect them….to respect them together.'
Fileva 'could smile, terrify, be soft and be made of iron'.
She was planning to make S7 a leading player in sea-based rocket launches to put satellites into space.
The head of the Russian space agency Dmitry Rogozin said: 'Her death is a personal tragedy for us all.'
Irkutsk airport chief Andrey Andreev said: 'The Filev couple were nicknamed Mama and Papa among S7 Group staff. Many felt they were orphaned today.
'It is incredibly painful that Natalia Fileva, a formidable woman, a bright personality and a professional to every cell of her bones, is no longer with us.
'She combined humanity and entrepreneurship, the romanticism of aviation and understanding of world aviation trends.'
She led the way in improving the Russian air fleet, he said, 'setting an example to many state officials in aviation'.
'Thanks to her energy and pushing skills the Russian aviation code was modernised and got closer to world standards'.
Her daughter Tatiana is reported to work for the airline. Maria is a student at the Moscow Aviation Institute.
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News Photo Three bodies are recovered from site where Russia's fourth-richest died in a fiery plane crash
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