Russian authorities have also launched an investigation into the plane’s operator, Angara Airlines, and whether it complied with regulations, it added.
“Based on the findings, a decision will be made on the company’s future operations,” the ministry said.
Angara Airlines, a small regional carrier based in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, said it was doing “everything possible to investigate the circumstances of the accident”.
The company’s CEO, Sergei Salamanov, told Russia’s REN TV channel on Thursday that it was the plane’s captain – an experienced pilot with 11,000 hours of flight time – who decided to make the flight.
“The weather forecast was unfavourable,” he said.
Regional investigators said on Friday they had recovered bodies from the wreckage.
The plane came down in a hard-to-reach area and it took a ground rescue team hours to reach the site.
Russia’s transport ministry said the families of the 48 killed – six of whom were crew – would receive five million rubles’ (US$63,000) compensation each.
