Plane that disappeared carrying 50 people is found as officials issue heartbreaking statement.
Emergency services have found the wreckage of the An-24 passenger plane about 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the town of Tynda in Russia's Amur region.
The Russian emergencies ministry delivered the devastating news that the aircraft had been completely destroyed in the crash.
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“Fifteen kilometre from Tynda, the wreckage of an An-24 was found on a slope. The plane was destroyed,” the Russian emergencies ministry said.
Footage showed wreckage from the plane burning in dense woodland.
Regional governor Vasily Orlov said the plane was carrying 43 passengers, including five children, along with six crew members - bringing the total number of people on board to 49.
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“All necessary forces and means have been deployed to search for the plane,” he wrote on Telegram.
The plane disappeared while carrying nearly 50 people. Preliminary data have indicated that there are no survivors.
The Angara Airlines flight had taken off from Khabarovsk as scheduled on Thursday morning at 7:36am local time (00.36 Moscow time), operating on the Khabarovsk-Blagoveshchensk-Tynda route.
Everything seemed fine until the plane started getting close to its final stop.
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The aircraft vanished from radar and stopped responding to radio calls just a few kilometres from Tynda airport. According to reports, the plane disappeared during a second landing attempt after an initial approach to the airport was unsuccessful.
“The An-24 plane was flying along the Khabarovsk-Blagoveshchensk-Tynda route. It failed to pass security checks near its final destination. There is no contact with it,” the emergencies ministry added.
Investigators are looking into crew error during landing in poor visibility as a possible cause of the crash. The challenging weather conditions around Tynda airport may have contributed to the difficulties the pilots faced during their landing attempts.
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“An An-24 operated by Angara Airlines failed to make contact at a designated checkpoint a few kilometres from Tynda Airport,” Tass news agency reported.
The An-24 is a Soviet-era twin-engine turboprop aircraft that has been widely used for regional flights across Russia and former Soviet states for decades. While generally considered reliable, these aircraft are now quite old, with most having been in service for many years.
This devastating crash brings to light the harsh realities of flying in Russia's far-flung eastern parts. Last September, a Robinson R66 helicopter carrying three people went missing in the northeastern part of the Amur region during an unregistered flight over the Zeya district.