All six crew members of an aircraft that crashed during a technical flight in Russia’s Far East region of Khabarovsk have died.
“The remains of the deceased were found at the crash site. There are no survivors,” a representative of the emergency services told the state news agency TASS on September 23, a day after the Antonov An-26 disappeared.
Earlier on September 23, officials said the crash site was discovered by a helicopter crew, but that high winds and harsh terrain made it impossible for the aircraft to land, forcing them to send a rescue team overland to the site.
The directorate of the Khabarovsk region joint natural reserve and national park said the site of the crash was discovered near the settlement of Korfovsky, not far from the city of Khabarovsk
TASS reported that the plane belonged to a company that performed technical checks at Russian airports and had been in service for 42 years.
The An-26 is a civilian and military transport plane equipped with two turboprop engines designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.
Accidents involving aging planes in far-flung regions are not uncommon in Russia.
In July, all 28 people on board an An-26 died in a crash on the Kamchatka Peninsula, also in the Far East.
