Specialists tend to conclude preliminarily that a malfunction of the reaction control thrusters of the third stage of a Proton-M launch vehicle carrying a Mexican satellite may have caused its crash early on Saturday, a Russian space industry source told Interfax-AVN on Saturday.

"Analysis of telemetry data gives reasons to conclude that the control thrusters of the rocket's third stage failed. This theory is currently viewed among the most likely ones," he said.

An identical malfunction led to the loss of an Express-AM44 communications satellite in summer 2014, he said.

"The investigation into the causes of that crash showed that the third stage's control thrusters operated incorrectly," he said.

Certain rocket systems underwent special tests based on the findings of the investigation into the 2014 crash of a Proton-M launch vehicle carrying an Express-AM44 satellite, he said.