The president of Russia’s Amur region stated in a statement Thursday that all 48 individuals, including the crew and passengers, were killed in the Antonov AN-24 jet crash in the Far East of the country.
More than 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) east of Moscow, in the town of Tynda, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry earlier announced that it had discovered the smoking fuselage of the Soviet-designed twin turboprop plane on a hillside south of its intended destination, according to news agency AP.
What caused the crash?
The aircraft, flown by Angara Airlines, a Siberian airline, had taken off from Khabarovsk, then traveled to Blagoveshchensk on the Russian-Chinese border before continuing on to Tynda.
The cause of the crash was unclear at first. According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, which cited anonymous emergency services sources, unfavorable meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the incident. Using information from the plane’s tail number, a number of Russian news sources also stated that the aircraft was nearly 50 years old.
Russian official media have released images of the accident site, which show smoke plumes encircling debris strewn throughout the dense forest. Rescuers found it difficult to get to the site because of its rural position, 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Tynda, according to regional governor Vasily Orlov.
The plane was making a second attempt at landing when it lost communication with air traffic control and vanished from radars, according to a statement posted online by the Far Eastern transport prosecutor’s office.
A crash investigation was started.
Orlov called the catastrophe a “terrible tragedy” and declared three days of mourning in the Amur region.
49 individuals were on board the airplane, according to a prior statement from the governor. According to the AP report, the cause of the disparity was not immediately apparent.
As is customary in aviation accidents, the authorities have opened an investigation into the claim of flight safety violations that led to several fatalities.
Russia has had a lot of aviation disasters, particularly in the last several years as the nation’s aviation industry has been hampered by international sanctions.
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