Pilot lands aircraft on frozen river after mistaking it for runway
- Thirty passengers and 4 crew safely evacuated in Siberia’s coldest area
A passenger aircraft right this moment landed on cracking ice on a infamous Russian river because of a pilot’s mistake.
Thirty passengers and 4 crew had been safely evacuated on foot from the Polar Airlines An-24 propeller aircraft in Siberia‘s coldest area of Yakutia.
Reports say the pilot mistook the frozen Kolyma River for a small touchdown strip at distant Zyryanka, some 70 miles under the Arctic Circle with a inhabitants of lower than 4,000 folks.
The aircraft has been left marooned on the ice of the Kolyma River, used to move prisoners to pressured labour camps in the course of the Stalin period.
The 52-year-old An-24 plane had flown from the world’s coldest metropolis Yakutsk and landed ‘by error’ on the frozen ice as an alternative of a touchdown strip on the riverbank in a temperature of minus 41C.
The 52-year-old An-24 plane has been left marooned on the ice of the Kolyma River in Siberia’s coldest area of Yakutia
The aircraft caught on the ice in Yakutia. The 52-year-old An-24 plane had flown from the world’s coldest metropolis Yakutsk and landed ‘by error’ on the frozen ice as an alternative of a touchdown strip on the riverbank
Passengers being escorted away from the plane. There had been no casualties, in keeping with a report
The ice is believed to be 2ft 7 inches thick however footage present an evident lengthy crack close to the aircraft.
‘There had been no casualties,’ stated media outlet Evening Yakutsk.
The aircraft has not been moved regardless of it struggling no important harm, stated stories.
It didn’t fly onto Srednekolymsk, as scheduled.
The river touchdown was categorised as a ‘severe incident’ by Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency.
‘During the touchdown, [the plane] deviated from the runway,’ stated the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office. It landed on the Kolyma River.
Some accounts stated it got here to relaxation on or close to a sandspit within the river.
‘According to preliminary data, the reason for the aviation occasion was a crew error in piloting the plane,’ stated the prosecutor’s workplace.
An investigation has been launched into the blunder.
