Debris from a Russian An-24 passenger aircraft, which went missing earlier on Thursday, has been located in the eastern Amur region, according to news agency IFAX.
The twin-engine plane, operated by Siberia-based Angara Airlines, was carrying nearly 50 people when air traffic controllers lost contact with it while it was approaching Tynda, a town close to Russia’s border with China.
Regional governor Vasily Orlov stated that preliminary data indicated 43 passengers were on board, including five children, along with six crew members. The local emergencies ministry offered a slightly different estimate, placing the number of people on board at around 40.
“All necessary forces and means have been deployed to search for the plane,” Orlov said in a message shared on Telegram.
The aircraft dropped off radar screens without any distress signal, prompting immediate search and rescue operations involving ground teams and aerial surveillance.
As of now, there is no official confirmation of survivors, and authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the disappearance and crash. The An-24 is a Soviet-era turboprop aircraft still used in some regional routes across Russia.
Further updates are awaited from officials as rescue and recovery efforts proceed in the remote and rugged terrain of the Amur region.
