Moscow: First visuals have surfaced showing the wreckage of a Russian passenger plane with 49 people on board. The aircraft went missing on Thursday with 49 people on board, including five children, four crew members, and two airline employees. The crash has left no survivors, according to preliminary information. However, officials are yet to issue a formal confirmation.
An-24 plane, operated by Siberia-based airline Angara, dropped off radar screens while approaching its destination, Tynda, a town in the Amur region bordering China, according to the Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief said on Thursday.
The video shot from a helicopter shows debris in a dense forest, with a cloud of smoke billowing from it. It is around 15 km from Tynda, on the slope of a mountain near the village of Kuvykta, in Russia's Far East Amur region, bordering China
Reportedly, the aircraft was making a second circle before attempting to land and was flying unusually low, as captured in eyewitness videos shortly before the crash.
Cause Of Crash?
The cause of the crash is yet to be known. However, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS, the aircraft reportedly caught fire mid-air and vanished from radar.
Probe Lauched
Authorities from the Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor’s Office have launched a probe into the crash.
The cause of the crash is yet to be known and officials are expected to begin recovery operations and black box retrieval once ground access becomes possible.
