Russia plane crash leaves 48 dead
The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the eastern town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk on Thursday when it disappeared from radar at around 1pm local time (5am BST).
According to Russian media, the plane, which entered service in 1976, crashed while attempting to land at Tynda Airport.
It was said to have failed on its first approach and flown around for a second attempt, when it stopped communicating with air traffic control.
A rescue helicopter later spotted its fuselage burning on a forested mountain slope about 10 miles from Tynda.
Videos published by Russian investigators showed columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area.
Credit: Russian Federal Air Transport Agency
Response teams from the region's civil defence agency were dispatched to the site, but found no survivors.
Authorities initially reported that 49 people were killed, however this was revised to 48 when it emerged that one passenger, a grandmother, had stayed home to look after her sick granddaughter.
A list of the passengers and crew was published in Russian media, which included the 43-year-old stewardess Anastasia Bessmertnaya – whose surname means 'immortal'.
Several doctors were killed in the crash, including Galina Naidyonova, an experienced obstetrician-gynaecologist, and Alexey Naidyonov, her a specialist in functional diagnostics.
Five children were reported to have been among the dead.
Vadim Bazykin, a well-known Russian test pilot, told the Izvestia newspaper that flights on ageing aircraft such as the Antonov An-24 should be banned.
'It seems to me that it would be better to ban flights on such old equipment if we are not able to bring it up to standard. We are simply constantly risking passengers,' he said.
Vladimir Putin expressed his 'sincere sympathy and condolences to the relatives, friends, and all the families of those killed in this air crash' while attending a meeting on the development of the Russian submarine fleet.
He declared a minute's silence in memory of the victims.
A three-day mourning period was announced in the Amur region, its governor said.
A criminal case has been opened into the incident, with human error and technical malfunctions considered as possible causes of the crash.
Rescuers in the helicopter saw no evidence of survivors, local rescuers said, as the Amur region's civil defence agency said it was dispatching a ground team to the scene.
Russian state media reported that the plane was manufactured almost 50 years ago. 'In 2021, the aircraft's airworthiness certificate was extended until 2036,' it said, citing a source in aviation services.
The Antonov-24 is a popular, Soviet-designed twin-propeller plane that first entered into service in 1959.
Russia has taken steps to switch from Soviet aircraft to modern jets in recent years, but ageing light aircraft are still widely used in far-flung regions, with accidents frequent.
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