A Russian plane believed to be carrying six people has crashed in mountainous northeastern Afghanistan, the air transport agency Rosaviatsia said on Sunday. Falcon 10 “disappeared from radar” and communication was lost Saturday night, the federal agency said.
There were six people on board the plane: four crew members and two passengers.
Later on Sunday, two Taliban representatives in Afghanistan’s northern Badakhshan province said two people were killed in the crash and four survived, Reuters reported. Khan Mohammad, head of the governor’s office in the province, said the four surviving passengers were now with Taliban government officials. Zabihullah Amiri, a spokesman for Badakhshan province, confirmed deaths as well as the number of survivors.
The twin-engine business jet, manufactured by France’s Dassault in 1978 and owned by a company called Athletic Group and a private individual, was carrying a sick passenger from India to Uzbekistan and Russia.
The agency added that “the search to locate the plane continues.” RIA Novosti news agency reported that two passengers were Russians, one was seriously ill and the other was her husband, who paid for the flight.
A local government official told AFP earlier that the plane had gone down in Badakhshan province, which borders China, Tajikistan and Pakistan.
“The plane crashed but the location is still unknown. We have sent teams but they have not arrived yet,” said Zabihullah Amiri, head of the provincial information department. “We were informed by local people in the morning. The crash site is eight hours away from the provincial capital Faizabad,” Amiri said.
Russian investigators have announced that they are launching an investigation into the cause of the crash. The mighty Hindu Kush mountain range crosses the province, home to Afghanistan’s highest peak, Mount Noshak, at 7,492 meters.
2024-01-21 17:01:30
#Russian #charter #plane #crashed #Afghanistan #survived #updated #Mediapool.bg
