A Russian passenger aircraft carrying 49 people crashed on Monday in the country’s Far Eastern Amur region near the Chinese border, killing everyone on board, officials confirmed.
The An-24 aircraft, operated by Siberia-based Angara airline, disappeared from radar during a second attempt to land at the Tynda airport after an initial approach failed. The crash occurred in poor visibility conditions, and initial investigations suggest pilot error as a likely cause. A technical malfunction has not been ruled out.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft midway through its flight. Shortly after, rescue teams located the burning wreckage near Tynda. All 49 people on board—including 43 passengers and six crew members—were declared dead. Among the passengers were five children.
Amur regional governor Vasily Orlov stated on Telegram that all available rescue forces had been deployed immediately after the aircraft went missing. However, Russia’s emergencies ministry reported a slightly different estimate, stating around 40 people were believed to be aboard at the time.
The crash comes less than a year after a Robinson R66 helicopter carrying three people went missing in the same Amur region during an unregistered flight. The remote area lies about 6,600 km east of Moscow and has seen several aviation incidents in recent years.
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