Moscow [Russia], July 25: All 49 passengers and crew aboard a Russian Antonov An-24 were killed when the plane crashed on Thursday in the country's Far East, authorities said, with recovery efforts ongoing in the inhospitable region near the Chinese border.
"The civil defence ground crew is investigating the crash site of the An-24 aircraft and continuing the search operation," the authorities said in a statement.
According to preliminary information, there are no survivors, they said.
The plane was flying from Khabarovsk via Blagoveshchensk to the small town of Tynda in the Amur region. It vanished from radar at around 1 pm (0400 GMT) while approaching the airport in Tynda. Search helicopters later found burning wreckage scattered around the site.
The aircraft's crew had not reported any issues prior to the crash, authorities said.Images of the accident site taken from a helicopter suggest there were no survivors, and emergency responders later confirmed the assessment when reaching the site on the ground.
The helicopter was unable to land in the terrain of Moor and Taiga, and rescue workers were reported to be struggling to reach the scene some 15 kilometres away from Tynda some 5,000 kilometres from Moscow.
Governor Vasily Orlov had said there were 49 people on board the aircraft, while rescue services had reported 46 passengers.The An-24 is one of the oldest passenger planes still in operation, with series production starting in 1962. Almost 60 of the more than 1,300 built up to 1979 are still in service, most in Russia, but also in Kazakhstan, North Korea and Ukraine.
The plane involved in the accident is reported to have been almost 50 years old. Its operating licence had been extended to 2036. Russian prosecutors have launched an investigation into Angara Airlines, the company operating the flight, focusing on safety measures.
According to media reports, investigators are looking into the possibility of human error.
The reports said the crew could have misjudged the height of the craft in difficult weather conditions and that the plane could have brushed the tops of trees as it approached the runway.
Source: Qatar Tribune