A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said.
The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm.
A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda.
Photo: EPA
Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area.
Rescuers in the helicopter saw no evidence of survivors, local rescuers said.
The Amur region’s civil defense agency said that it was dispatching a ground team to the scene.
“At the moment, 25 people and five units of equipment have been dispatched, and four aircraft with crews are on standby,” it said.
The forest terrain has made getting to the site difficult, a rescuer told the state TASS news agency.
“The main search operations are being conducted from the air,” they said.
Angara Airlines, a small regional carrier based in the Russian city of Irkutsk, made no immediate public comment.
The plane was carrying 43 passengers and six crew members, Amur Governor Vassily Orlov said.
Among the passengers were five children, he said.
The plane crashed while attempting a second approach to Tynda airport, Russia’s Far Eastern Transport Prosecutors’ Office said.
“While approaching Tynda airport, the aircraft went around for a second landing, after which contact was lost,” it said. “The circumstances are being investigated.”
The prosecutors’ office did not issue an immediate comment on what caused the crash.
TASS reported that the plane was manufactured almost 50 years ago.
“In 2021, the aircraft’s airworthiness certificate was extended until 2036,” it reported, citing a source in aviation services.
The Antonov-24 is a popular, Soviet-designed twin-propeller plane that first entered into service in 1959.
Russia has taken steps to switch from Soviet aircraft to modern jets in recent years, but light aircraft are still widely used in far-flung regions.
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FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
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