Russian Passenger Plane Crashes Near China Border—No Survivors Found
A Russian passenger plane carrying 49 people has been found crashed near the China-Russia border, with authorities confirming there were no survivors. The Antonov An-24 aircraft, operated by the regional Angara airline, had gone missing during a domestic flight over Russia’s Far East.
The aircraft was en route to the city of Tynda in the Amur region when it lost contact with air traffic control just a few miles from its destination. According to RIA Novosti, burning wreckage was discovered on a remote mountainside roughly nine miles from the airport.
Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that a search helicopter, a Mi-8 operated by the Federal Air Transport Agency, located the plane’s fuselage at the crash site. Rescue teams were unable to land near the wreckage due to challenging terrain and weather, and were forced to approach the scene on foot.
Regional governor Vasily Orlov confirmed on Telegram that 43 passengers—including five children—and six crew members were on board. He added that all necessary search and rescue resources had been deployed. A support hotline has also been established for relatives of those aboard the flight.
The flight was operating along the Khabarovsk–Blagoveshchensk–Tynda route when it disappeared from radar. Adverse weather, including low cloud cover and rainfall, was reported in the area at the time of the incident. Authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the crash, as standard procedure in aviation accidents.
The An-24 is a Soviet-era twin turboprop aircraft developed in the late 1950s by the Antonov Design Bureau, originally based in Kyiv. Although the model is still used for regional routes in parts of Russia and Central Asia, it is considered outdated by modern aviation standards.
Officials have not yet commented on the possible cause of the crash, and an investigation is ongoing.
