- Belarusian An-12 Soviet-era turboprop cargo plane crashes and burns in Siberia, Russia.
- The An-12 is a Soviet-era turboprop plane produced between 1957 and 1973, primarily for the armed forces of the USSR.
- The incident marks the latest in a series of air disasters in Siberia and the Russian Far East.
According to Russian officials in Moscow, at least seven people were on board Antonov An-12 cargo plane that crashed in Siberia, near the city of Irkutsk.
The plane apparently belong to Belarusian ‘Grodno’ airline and was performing a cargo flight over Siberia, Russia.
“At 2:50pm Moscow time, the An-12 aircraft, flying between Yakutsk and Irkutsk, disappeared from the radar,” Russian official said.
“Initially, two people have been killed and the fate of a further five people is still unknown.”
According to preliminary reports, the crash site has been found in the area of the village of Pivovarikha (in Irkutsk region), not far from the airfield. The plane went into a second circle during landing and then disappeared from the radar.
According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, when the fire and rescue units arrived at the scene, the he aircraft was on fire, but emergency services had managed to extinguish the blaze.
More than 100 people and 50 vehicles are said to be on the site and aiding in the recovery operation.
The governor of Irkutsk Oblast confirmed that all those aboard had died, and no survivors had been found among the wreckage.
The An-12 is a Soviet-era turboprop plane produced between 1957 and 1973, primarily for the armed forces of the USSR. It has since been operated by a number of civilian airlines in the former Soviet Union, primarily for freight flights.
In 2019, an An-12 crashed close to Lviv airport in Western Ukraine, killing five and injuring a further three people.
The incident marks the latest in a series of air disasters in Siberia and the Russian Far East. In July, emergency workers investigating the disappearance of an Antonov An-26 turboprop plane announced that they had recovered the bodies of 22 passengers and six crew after it crashed into a cliff on the Kamchatka peninsula.
