An Angara Airlines plane en route from Khabarovsk to Blagoveshchensk to Tynda in Russia’s Far East has crashed as it was attempting to land near Tynda. Early reports have confirmed the deaths of all 49 people on board.

Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza; Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti; Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta

Details: The aircraft failed to land on its first attempt and circled for a second approach, after which contact with it was lost. It later emerged that the plane had hit a mountainside.

There were 49 people on board – six crew members and 43 passengers, including five children. According to the Amur Oblast Centre for Civil Protection and Fire Safety, an aerial survey of the An-24 crash site revealed no survivors, though a ground inspection might discover some.

The plane’s wreckage was found 16 km from Tynda. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has confirmed that a rescue helicopter searching for the An-24 spotted the aircraft’s burning fuselage.

Operational services are considering crew error while landing in poor visibility as the likely cause of the disaster.

Accounts on social media have suggested the rescue helicopter was unable to land near the crash site, forcing rescue workers to proceed on foot.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!

From Ukrainska Pravda via this RSS feed