A passenger plane that crashed in poor weather conditions in Russia’s far east have kill all 48 passengers and crew on board, the head of Amur region has confirmed in a statement.
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The Antonov An-24 passenger plane crashed on Thursday as it was preparing to land, killing everyone on board. It had been attempting to land for a second time after failing to down on its first approach when it lost contact with air traffic control and disappeared from radar, the Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
Operated by the privately owned Siberian regional airline Angara, it had been en route from the city of Blagoveshchensk near the Chinese border to Tynda, an important railway junction in the Amur region. It was carrying 42 passengers, including five children, and six crew.
Amur’s civil defence centre said the plane was found on a hillside about 16km (10 miles) from Tynda, Tass news agency reported.
According to TASS news agency, an error by the plane’s crew while landing amid poor visibility is one of the possible reasons for the crash.
Circumstances of the accident
- Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Angara Airlines An-24 passenger plane when it was a few kilometers from Tynda Airport.
- The flight was with service from Khabarovsk to Blagoveshchensk to Tynda.
- The wreckage of the plane was found on a mountainside 16 km from Tynda, according to Amur Region emergency services.
Investigators said they had opened a criminal case into the suspected violation of air traffic and air transport rules, resulting in the death of more than two people through negligence. The plane had recently passed a technical safety inspection, Russian news agencies reported, and had been involved in four apparently minor incidents since 2018.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
