A passenger plane with 49 people on board has crashed in Russia’s Far East, with all aboard feared dead.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the aircraft, an Antonov An-24 operated by Angara Airlines, disappeared from radar on Thursday as it approached the town of Tynda, near the Chinese border.
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Emergency services later confirmed wreckage was found in the Amur region. Footage posted by RT on social media showed the plane’s burning fuselage captured from a rescue helicopter.
Emergency officials said there were likely no survivors, although official confirmation was still pending at press time.
Regional Governor Vasily Orlov said: “All necessary forces and means have been deployed to search for the plane.”
Orlov said 43 passengers, including five children, and six crew members were on board. However, local emergency services gave a different figure of around 40 occupants.
RT later confirmed 49 people in total, with no survivors reported.
The plane reportedly disappeared just before landing in Tynda. Since then, no contact has been re-established with the flight crew.
Russian authorities said both human error and technical malfunction were possible causes of the crash.
Rescue efforts remain ongoing, but expectations of finding survivors have dimmed.
This is not the first time Russia’s ageing regional aircraft have been involved in deadly crashes, raising questions about air safety in remote parts of the country.
The An-24, a Soviet-era twin turboprop, is still in use in several regions despite being over five decades old.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke in the sky near the crash zone hours before the discovery of the wreck.
Russia’s transport ministry and aviation safety board have launched investigations into the incident.
Recovery operations continued under difficult terrain conditions as the names of the victims have not yet been released.
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