Refuelled in Bihar, Russian plane crashes in Afghanistan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 21

A Russian plane that had refuelled at Gaya in Bihar disappeared from the radars on Saturday morning and was found to have crashed in the remote mountains of Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan.

Sparked India-Moscow flight crash rumours

Initial reports said all six persons on board the private plane were killed, but the Taliban later claimed four of them, including the pilot, survived. The Taliban’s Transportation and Civil Aviation Ministry issued a statement online saying the plane was found in Kuf Ab district near the Aruz Koh mountain. “The pilot was found by a search team. According to the pilot, he and three others are alive,” it said. There was no independent confirmation of the information.

Four of six survive

• Initial reports said all six on board died, but Taliban later claimed four survived
• Indian Civil Aviation Ministry dispelled rumours that it was a scheduled flight to Moscow
• The plane crashed in the remote Afghanistan mountains bordering Tajikistan

The Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport had earlier said a Falcon 10 aircraft disappeared from radars. The aircraft had taken off from Thailand’s U-Tapao airport and had landed at Gaya for refuelling, said the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation while dispelling rumours that a scheduled flight to Moscow had crashed. Initially, Afghan news agency Pajhwook had claimed it was an Indian passenger plane.

“According to preliminary data, six persons were aboard the aircraft, among them four crew members and two passengers. The aircraft is owned by the Athletic Group and an individual. The aircraft was performing a charter sanitary flight on route Gaya (India)-Tashkent (Uzbekistan)-Zhukovsky (Russia),” it said.

The Russian aviation agency is in touch with the aviation authorities of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Tajikistan, according to the report. The Falcon 10 aircraft (registration number RA-09011; serial number 128) was produced by the French company Dassault Aviation in 1978. /PTI

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