Moscow: A Russian An-24 aircraft carrying 49 people, including five children and six crew members, crashed in the mountainous Amur region on Thursday, killing all on board, according to local media reports.
The ill-fated flight, operated by the Siberia-based Angara Airlines, had departed from Blagoveshchensk and was en route to Tynda, near the Russia-China border, when it lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly before its scheduled landing. According to Russia’s state news agency TASS, the aircraft reportedly caught fire mid-air and vanished from radar.
Rescue helicopters later located the burning wreckage on a remote mountainside, approximately 16 kilometres from Tynda.
Officials from the Amur Centre for Civil Defence and Fire Safety confirmed that “no survivors were found when a Mi-8 search helicopter flew over the crash site.”
“The aircraft caught fire upon crashing,” said a spokesperson. “Rescue operations have been hampered by the extremely difficult terrain, as the crash site lies on a steep, inaccessible slope.”
The harsh geographical conditions of the region — dense taiga forests and swampy terrain — further complicated rescue efforts.
The aircraft did not send any distress signals before disappearing, heightening questions over what went wrong. Preliminary reports suggest the An-24 may have been attempting a second approach to land at Tynda Airport when it went off the radar.
A Rosaviatsia aircraft and multiple rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the area when the information was received earlier in the day. (IANS)
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