AMUR – Nearly 50 people including children are presumed dead after an Antonov An-24 passenger plane crashed in Russia’s far east on Thursday Russian emergency services officials said.
The aircraft that crashed in the Amur Region caught fire during its descent, and no survivors were spotted during an aerial inspection of the site, the regional civil defense and fire safety center told TASS news agency.
According to the director of Tynda Airport quoted by TASS, a Mi-8 helicopter crew flying over the area reported no signs of survivors.
Emergency response services indicated that the aircraft was carrying 40 passengers and six crews. However, the Governor of the Amur Region Vasily Orlov stated that there were 43 passengers including five children and six crews on board.
The burning fuselage of the plane, which was from the Soviet era and was nearly 50 years old, was spotted on the ground by a helicopter and rescue crews were rushing to the scene.
The An-24 aircraft operated by Angara Airlines (Irkutsk) lost contact with air traffic control today at approximately 1 p.m. local time (4 a.m. GMT) while performing flight Khabarovsk-Blagoveshchensk-Tynda.
During the landing approach to Tynda Airport, the plane initiated a go-around procedure, after which contact was lost.
