A Russian Antonov An-24 aircraft crashed in the country’s far east on Thursday, killing all 48 people on board.
The regional governor confirmed the death toll, which included 42 passengers, five of them children, and six crewmembers, according to a report from Reuters.
The flight was operated by Angara Airlines, a regional carrier based in Siberia. The aircraft was traveling from the city of Blagoveshchensk to Tynda, a town in the Amur region near Russia’s border with China, when it disappeared from radar.
A search and rescue helicopter dispatched by the country’s emergency ministry spotted the burning fuselage from the air and could not locate any survivors. Efforts to reach the crash site by land were hampered by the area’s swampy terrain and lack of roads.
The Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the flight did not touch down on its first approach to the airport in Tynda and was making a second attempt when it crashed.
According to CNN, Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) has launched an investigation.
The Antonov An-24 involved in the crash was built in 1976 and had been owned by Russian flag carrier Aeroflot before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NBC News reported. Its airworthiness certificate was renewed in 2021.
