At least 46 on board Soviet-era plane killed in crash in Russia, criminal probe launched

All on board a Soviet-era passenger plane that crashed in Russia on Jul. 24 were killed, the Russian Investigative Committee said, prompting a criminal probe into a violation of air traffic safety rules.

According to various sources, there were about 46 to 49 people on board the the Angara Airlines aircraft, including five children and six crew members.

Chinese state media stated that at least one Chinese national was on board.

Lost contact while landing

The Antonov An-24 passenger plane was made nearly 50 years ago, according to Reuters.

While en route from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to the town of Tynda, it failed to make contact at a designated checkpoint a few kilometres from the town’s airport.

It lost contact at around 1pm local time during a second attempt to land.

The burning body of the plane was spotted at a mountainside 16 kilometres from Tynda, but rescue helicopters were initially unable to land due to the harsh terrain in the mountains, a source told the state-run TASS news agency.

Criminal case

A criminal probe is underway to investigate a potential violation of air traffic safety rules.

Speaking to TASS, a source in the emergency services noted that human error by the crew is being considered as a likely cause of the crash, though other possibilities have not been ruled out.

Angara Airlines CEO Sergei Salamanov told Russia’s REN TV that weather conditions at the time of the incident were poor.

"The commander made the decision to carry out the flight," he said.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has initiated a government commission, led by Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin, to manage relief efforts.

Meanwhile, the Amur region in the far east of Rrussia, where the crash occured, has declared a state of emergency and three days of mourning.

Angara Airlines

Angara is based in Siberia and serves airports in Siberia and Russia’s Far East.

Before the recent crash, it operated 10 An-24s, built between 1972 and 1976.

Reuters observed that the airline had requested the Russian government to prolong the service life of the Antonov aircraft last year.

This was amid rising maintenance costs and limited access to spare parts, following Western sanctions against Russia over its war with Ukraine.

Top image via Aditya Kumar Trivedi/X