MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – Officials reported a Russian passenger jet carrying 17 passengers went missing in the Siberian area of Tomsk on Friday, the second such occurrence this month.
Governor Sergei Zhvachkin’s office stated in a statement that the jet, operated by Siberian Light Aviation (SiLA), was travelling from the village of Kedrovy to the regional capital Tomsk when communication was lost.
There were 17 individuals on board, including three crew members and four youngsters, according to the report.
A search was launched, with two helicopters engaged, after an emergency beacon was activated.
The event follows the July 6 accident of an An-26 jet in Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula, which killed all 28 persons on board.
Antonov planes were produced during the Soviet period and are currently utilised for commercial and military transport across the former Soviet Union. In recent years, they have been engaged in a number of accidents.
A source in the local emergency services told the TASS news agency that no technical faults were discovered during the plane’s pre-flight inspection.
According to a local transport source, the jet was manufactured in 1989 and was previously operated by Russian carrier Aeroflot and in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan before joining SiLA in 2014.
The An-28 is a twin-engine small turboprop aircraft that can carry up to 17 people.
Russia, which was formerly known for aviation crashes, has recently improved its air traffic safety record.
However, poor aircraft maintenance and weak safety regulations remain, and the country has recently seen a number of fatal aviation accidents.
A Sukhoi Superjet belonging to the Russian flag carrier airline Aeroflot crashed and caught fire on a Moscow airport runway in May 2019, killing 41 people.
A Saratov Airlines An-148 aircraft crashed near Moscow in February 2018, killing all 71 persons on board shortly after takeoff. The disaster was eventually determined to be the result of human error, according to an inquiry.
Flying in Russia may also be risky in remote areas with harsh weather, such as the Arctic and the Far East.