Agartala: July 24: In a tragic aviation disaster, a Russian An-24 aircraft operated by Angara Airlines crashed in the mountainous Amur region on Thursday, killing all 49 people on board, including five children and six crew members. The flight had taken off from Blagoveshchensk and was en route to Tynda near the Russia-China border when it lost contact with air traffic control shortly before its scheduled landing.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, the aircraft reportedly caught fire mid-air before vanishing from radar. Rescue helicopters later spotted the burning wreckage on a steep, remote mountainside, approximately 16 kilometres from Tynda.
Officials from the Amur Centre for Civil Defence and Fire Safety confirmed the grim outcome, stating, “No survivors were found when a Mi-8 search helicopter flew over the crash site. The aircraft caught fire upon impact.”
Rescue operations have been severely hampered by the region’s difficult terrain—dense forests, swampy stretches, and steep slopes—all contributing to the inaccessibility of the site. The aircraft reportedly did not issue any distress signal, raising concerns about a possible sudden failure or other technical malfunction.
Preliminary reports suggest the plane may have been attempting a second landing approach at Tynda Airport when it went off the radar. Authorities are now focusing on determining the cause of the crash. A team from Rosaviatsia and multiple emergency response units were immediately dispatched to the site.
Amur region governor Vasily Orlov assured that all necessary resources have been mobilised for recovery and investigation. “All forces have been deployed to locate the aircraft and initiate rescue efforts,” he said.
The Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation, and ground teams are preparing to recover the flight’s black box as soon as conditions permit.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
