Vienna zoo welcomes female Siberian tiger
Vienna Zoo has received a new Siberian tiger to help with efforts to conserve the endangered species. Born in 2023 in the AquaZoo Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, the female tiger arrived in Vienna in February.
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Business Insider
25-07-2025
- Business Insider
Russia tried stretching the service life of its aging An-24 planes past 50 years. One just crashed with dozens on board.
A Russian passenger plane that crashed on Thursday was nearly 50 years old and had its service life extended to 2036, according to state media. The Antonov An-24, a twin-propeller aircraft that seats 43 passengers, disappeared at around 1 pm local time in Russia's Amur region, regional transport officials said in a Telegram statement. Russian federal air officials said 42 passengers and seven crew members were on board when the plane crashed on approach to an airport at Tynda, a city in Amur. Regional officials said the plane had failed to touch down once at Tynda and crashed during its second approach. Flying conditions were suitable for passenger aircraft, and no distress calls had been issued at the time of the crash, state media outlet TASS reported. It later wrote that a rescue helicopter observing the crash site found no signs of survivors. As of press time, however, the latest update from Russia's emergency ministry said ground rescuers hadn't reached the site due to "difficult mountainous terrain." The plane, operated by Siberian-headquartered Angara Airlines, was manufactured in 1976, making it 49 years old, according to state media outlet TASS. TASS reported that in 2021, this particular An-24's airworthiness certificate was extended to 2036, which would have allowed it to fly passenger journeys up to 60 years after its maiden flight. An open-source Russian plane registry listed the crashed An-24 as entering operations in February of 1976, making it 49 years and five months old. To compare, major international and US airlines typically phase out aircraft that have been in service for over 35 years. In January, Angara was also one of two Russian airlines that highlighted a need to extend the service life of its An-24s, saying that Western sanctions had limited access to maintenance workers and spare parts for much of its fleet. "We are today working in a market in which there are no alternatives to the An-24 and An-26," Angara deputy CEO Sergei Zorin said at the time, per Reuters. Aviation authorities signed a contract in March to push the aircraft's service life to 60 years. State media also reported on Thursday that the crashed An-24 had sustained damage and equipment failures at least three times in the past seven years. Citing Russia's federal air transport agency, TASS reported that the plane had rolled off a runway in 2018 and clipped a lightning pole with its left wing. The aircraft also returned to an airport in 2019 after its generator failed, while one of its radio sets was reported to have malfunctioned on the tarmac in May 2025. Its approach warning system was also activated once in 2022, per TASS. Still, the state media outlet reported preliminary findings from emergency services that crew error caused the crash, though it did not specify how authorities arrived at that conclusion. Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee, said on Thursday that her office would launch a criminal investigation into the crash.
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Yahoo
Soviet-era plane crashes in Russia's far east killing all on board
STORY: :: WARNING: Graphic content :: Russian Investigative Committee/Handout A Soviet-era plane carrying 48 people crashed in Russia's far east on Thursday as it was preparing to land, killing everyone on board. The Antonov An-24, made in 1976, was spotted by a search helicopter after it disappeared from radar screens. :: Federal Air Transport Agency It had been attempting to land for a second time after failing to touch down on its first approach, the Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. The plane was operated by the privately owned Siberian regional airline Angara and was carrying 42 passengers, including five children, and six crew. It had been en route from the city of Blagoveshchensk near the Chinese border, to Tynda. :: Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office/Handout There were no roads to the site, and a rescue team had to use heavy machinery to cut a path. Investigators said they had opened a criminal case into the suspected violation of air traffic and air transport rules. Russian news agencies reported the plane had recently passed a technical safety inspection and had been involved in four apparently minor incidents since 2018. President Vladimir Putin held a minute's silence at the start of a government meeting, and expressed his condolences to the families of those killed. The crash is likely to raise new questions about the viability of continuing to fly such old planes in far-flung corners of Russia. Western sanctions have crimped Moscow's ability to access investment and spare parts. More than 1,300 An-24 planes were built in the Soviet Union. Data from the RussianPlanes web-portal and Reuters analysis found 88 have now been lost because of crashes and 65 because of serious incidents without casualties. Another 75 are currently in operation.
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Yahoo
Passenger plane crashes in Russia's far east, nearly 50 people on board feared dead
Russia Plane By Andrew Osborn and Gleb Stolyarov MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian Antonov An-24 passenger plane carrying about 50 people crashed in the country's far east on Thursday and everyone on board was feared to have been killed, emergency services officials said. The burning fuselage of the plane, which was made in the Soviet era and was nearly 50 years old, was spotted on the ground by a helicopter and rescue crews were rushing to the scene. Video shot from a helicopter and posted on social media, showed the plane came down in a densely forested area. Pale smoke could be seen rising from the crash site. The plane was on a flight by a privately owned Siberian-based regional airline called Angara. The aircraft's tail number showed it was built in 1976 and was operated by Soviet flag carrier Aeroflot before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The plane was en route from the city of Blagoveshchensk to Tynda, a remote town and important railway junction in the Amur region bordering China. It dropped off radar screens while preparing to land. There were 43 passengers, including five children, and six crew members on board according to preliminary data, Vasily Orlov, the regional governor said. The federal Russian government put the number of passengers on board at 42. Debris from the plane was found on a hill around 15 km (10 miles) from Tynda, the Interfax news agency quoted emergency service officials as saying. "During the search operation, an Mi-8 helicopter belonging to Rossaviatsiya discovered the fuselage of the aircraft, which was on fire," the emergency services ministry said on Telegram. "Rescuers continue to make their way to the scene of the accident." A representative from Angara told Reuters they could not offer any more details. The federal Russian government said it had set up a commission to deal with the aftermath of the crash and authorities announced an investigation into the cause. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been notified of the crash. 'FLYING TRACTORS' Angara airline is based in the Siberian city of Irkutsk and serves airports in Siberia and Russia's far east. It operates 10 An-24s built between 1972 and 1976, according to the RussianPlanes web-portal. Angara was one of two Siberian airlines that last year asked the Russian government to extend the service life of the Antonov aircraft, many of which are over 50 years old, as Russian planemakers scramble to plug the gap left by an exodus of foreign manufacturers. Nicknamed "flying tractors" by some, the propeller-driven An-24s are regarded as reliable workhorses by the Russian aviation industry and are well-suited to the harsh conditions in Siberia as they are able to operate in sub-zero conditions and don't have to land on runways. But airline executives, pilots and industry experts say the cost of maintaining the Antonovs - which make up a fraction of Russia's fleet of over 1,000 passenger planes - has increased after Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine hit investment and access to parts. Many of the planes were due to be retired from service in the coming years, but regional airlines are trying to keep them flying until a replacement enters into service as they say there is no alternative until then. Mass production of the new Ladoga aircraft, the same class as the An-24, is not due to begin until 2027 at the earliest. Solve the daily Crossword
