A passenger plane has crashed in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, the Afghan agency TOLO News reports citing the head of the Information and Culture Department of Badakhshan province, Zabihullah Amiri.
According to him, the crash occurred on Topchan Mountain near the settlements of Qoran-wa-Munjan and Zebak. A rescue team has been dispatched to the site.
According to local residents, the plane crashed on Sunday morning.
On Sunday morning, the AviaSpotter Telegram channel reported the disappearance of the Falcon 10B (RA-09011) "Gazpromavia" plane (an air operator carrying out flights on behalf of Russian "Gazprom") flying from Gaya, India, to Tashkent.
"It is known that the pilots reported technical problems and were planning an unplanned landing when crossing the Tajikistan border (at 13:00 UTC on 20/01). However, there is no further information about the aircraft. The last time the aircraft was displayed on radars was approaching the Afghan border," the report says.
The missing aircraft in Afghanistan, Falcon 10 (RA-09011), is registered in the Russian Civil Aircraft Register, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency ("Rosaviatsia"). Preliminary information indicates there were 6 people on board: 4 crew members and 2 passengers. The aircraft was performing a charter medical flight from Gaya (India) to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) to Zhukovsky (Russia). The aircraft belongs to the company "Athletic Group."
Rosaviatsia is working together with the aviation authorities of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Search operations are underway for the aircraft, which lost contact and disappeared from radars on the evening of January 20 while in the airspace of Afghanistan (near the Tajikistan border).
CentralasianLIGHT.org
January 21, 2024