India's Russia-bound aircraft crashes in Afghanistan

• A Russian-registered private plane carrying six people crashed in Afghanistan.
• The crash occurred on Saturday night in a mountainous area near Zebak district.
• The plane was a charter ambulance flight from the Indian city of Gaya.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation reported that a Russian-registered private plane carrying six people is believed to have crashed in a remote area of Afghanistan.

The crash occurred on Saturday night in a mountainous area near Zebak district in the northeastern Badakhshan province, which shares borders with China, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.

“According to initial information, a Falcon 10 Russian private jet plane carrying six crew and passengers was heading to Tashkent (the capital of Uzbekistan) from India yesterday at 7 p.m.

“Due to some technical problem, the plane lost its signal,” said Imamuddin Ahmadi, civil aviation ministry spokesman, told the media.

Ahmadi mentioned that the ministry had dispatched a team to investigate the incident and indicated that more details would follow.

Afghan province:

The mighty Hindu Kush mountain range cuts through the rural Afghan province, which is home to the nation’s highest mountain, Mount Noshaq, at 7,492 meters high.

In a statement, Russian aviation authorities revealed that the plane was a charter ambulance flight traveling from the Indian city of Gaya, via Uzbekistan, to Moscow on a French-made Dassault Aviation Falcon 10 manufactured in 1978.

“On the evening of Saturday, Jan. 20, while in the airspace of Afghanistan (near the border of Tajikistan), the Falcon 10 aircraft, registered in the state register of civil aircraft of the Russian Federation, stopped communicating and disappeared from radar screens,” the statement added.

“There were six people on board the plane – four crew members and two passengers.”

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