ANOTHER An-28 passenger plane goes missing in Russia, crashed plane is later found with all people alive

Henry Batyaev
Sputnik
Fri, 16 Jul 2021 10:30 UTC

Anatoly Prytkov, one of the pilots of the An-28, is helped by his colleagues to exit a helicopter that was also carrying the other surviving passengers at an airport outside Tomsk.

The plane disappeared from radar in the Bakcharsky district of the Tomsk region, according to emergency services.

Rescue crews have located the An-28 plane that went missing in the Tomsk region of Russia, the Russian emergency services' press service told RIA.

The aircraft made a hard landing, the press service clarified, adding that it was found by a helicopter at around 2:36 pm Moscow time.

According to the press official, all passengers and crew survived the incident and none of them sustained any serious injuries.

The An-28 earlier disappeared in the Bakcharsky district of the Tomsk Region, prompting a search operation.

According to the Chief Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the crash beacon of the plane, travelling from Kedrovy to Tomsk, went off at around 1 p.m.

There were 14 passengers (including four children) on board, as well as three crew members.

Additional helicopters have been dispatched to the landing site to evacuate the passengers.

Investigative authorities in the region have launched a criminal probe into a "breach of air traffic safety regulations and aircraft operation".

Earlier this month, an An-26 aircraft flying from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky crashed, killing all 28 people on board. It is believed to have collided with a cliff due to poor visibility.

Comment: RFE/RL provides some additional info:

"We all believed in a miracle, and thanks to the professionalism of the pilots it happened. Everyone is alive," regional Governor Sergei Zvachkin said in a statement.

The damaged body of the plane could be seen lying overturned in a wooded field in footage published by the TASS news agency.

The pilot of the plane was quoted by TASS as saying the aircraft suffered double engine failure shortly after takeoff.

The regional directorate of the Emergency Ministry said that the plane went missing in the early afternoon and sent a "distress" signal before it disappeared from radar screens.

The An-28 aircraft was flying from the town of Kedrovy to the regional capital, Tomsk.

A total of 14 passengers, including two children, along with four crew members, were transported to a hospital in Tomsk for medical examination, emergency officials said.

In 2012, an An-28 plane belonging to Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise crashed into a mountain while flying from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and coming in for a landing in Palana.

A total of 14 people were on board, 10 of whom were killed. Both pilots, who were among the dead, were found to have alcohol in their blood, media reports said at the time.

Less that two weeks ago the Philippine military suffered their worst aircraft disaster during landing, leaving 50 dead and 49 wounded.

See also: Plane crashes in Russia's far east, all 28 people on board including local government officials dead