A Russian passenger plane carrying 49 people has crashed after it disappeared off the radar over the Amur region in the country’s Far East, local officials said on Thursday.
According to several domestic media reports, burning fuselage of the plane was found during an aerial search on a hillside roughly 15 kilometres from Tynda. There were no survivors.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Antonov An-24 passenger plane, operated by Angara, a Siberia-based airline, when it was attempting a second approach as it reached its destination, authorities said.
The flight departed from the city of Blagoveshchensk on the Russian-Chinese border to the town of Tynda.
According to preliminary data, 43 passengers, including five children, and six crew members were on board, regional governor Vasily Orlov said.
“All necessary forces and means have been deployed to search for the plane,” he wrote on Telegram.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry reported that 48 people were on board the flight. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
The authorities have launched a probe into the charge of flight safety violations that resulted in multiple deaths, a standard procedure in aviation accidents. Similar incidents involving regional airlines have been frequent in Russia.
SOURCE: EURONEWS
