An old passenger plane just crashed in Russia’s far-east region with 28 people aboard on Tuesday. Rescue officials have stated that there are no survivors.
According to Russia’s Emergency Ministry, the plane Antonov An-26 twin-engine turboprop was en route from regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana, a town in northwestern Kamchatka it lost contact with air traffic control shortly before 3 pm local time on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported.
Twenty-two passengers and six crew members were aboard the Antonov An-26 double-engine turboprop aircraft, which has remained in operation since 1982, under the supervision of its owner company, Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise. Most passengers were residents of Palana, a small town with a population of 2,900 people close to the Sea of Okhotsk. In other words, this will be a deeply felt loss.
The Antonov An-26 double-engine turboprop aircraft has been operated since 1982 under its owner’s company, Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise. There were 22 passengers and six crew members. Most were residents of Palana, a town that is home to about 2,900 people and near the Sea of Okhotsk.
This incident lies close to the recent Boeing 737 cargo jet crash on the coast of Hawaii involving two pilots. However, both pilots were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. The twin-engine Antonov an-26 in low visibility tried landing when it supposedly got hit to a cliff and crashed. The Emergency Ministry next arranged a helicopter and forwarded the teams to look out for the lost plane after the crash site was confirmed by Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority.
Undoubtedly, Russian Aviation standards have recently advanced, but it is nearly impossible to avoid mishaps specifically involving an old pane in a relatively thinly populated area. Russia was still a part of the Soviet Union when this unfortunate Antonov an-26 was developed. It started its flights approximately 50 years ago and has experienced a lot of crashes since then. In 2012, a similar plane named Antonov-28 crashed in the Kamchatka Forest, and 10 people feared dead. Later on, investigations revealed that both the pilots were intoxicated at the time of the crash. Whether the pilots of the recent crash were also high is a mystery yet to be solved.
Generally, when talking about a plane crash, there are several factors involved. For instance, how old a plane is? And it’s probably the most significant factor to be addressed. For example, last week, the Boeing 737 cargo jet was several decades old, indicating it has been flying almost all its life to stay airborne. However, this does not imply that all veteran planes should be grounded.
It is regrettable that despite fighting the deadly Corona-Virus pandemic, 28 people aboard lost their lives to this aircraft incident.