The An-24 passenger aircraft was flying over Amur Region in the country’s Far East
FILE PHOTO: An Antonov An-24 passenger plane, Krasnoyarsk, Russia, October 17, 2019. © Ilya Naimushin / Sputnik
An An-24 twin turboprop passenger plane has crashed during a trip over Amur Region, officials report.
According to Vasily Orlov, the governor of Amur Region in Russia’s Far East, the aircraft was taking 43 passengers, including five children, from Blagoveshchensk to Tynda, a flight of roughly 570 km. There were six crew members aboard, he added.
Emergency services reported finding the crash site some 15km from the destination. Debris and signs of fire were spotted from a helicopter dispatched in response to the incident.
Rescue workers on the ground are currently making their way to the fallen aircraft.
The Antonov An-24 was designed in the 1950s and is normally used for cargo and passenger transportation. Over 1,000 units were produced over the years. The model is currently in limited commercial use in Russia. The aircraft that went missing was part of the fleet operated by Angara Airlines, which serves routes across the country’s Far East and Eastern Siberia.