An investigation has been launched by the Federal Air Transport Agency in Russia after a Antonov An-24 carrying 30 passengers mistakenly landed on a frozen river.
According to the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office, the Antonov An-24 aircraft, operated by Polar Airlines, was due to land on a runway in the town of Zyryanka in the Republic of Sakha on December 28, 2023.
However, the passenger plane, with four crew onboard, “deviated from the runway during landing and landed on a sand spit of the Kolyma River”.
An official representing the Republic of Sakha said there were no injuries as a result of the incident.
According to preliminary information, the cause of the mistaken landing was pilot error.
Polar Airlines released a short statement on its website confirming that an An-24 aircraft landed off the runway of Zyryanka Airport (ZKP)and that the plane did not sustain any damage.
Accident investigators from the regional department of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency advised that they were flying to the scene of the incident.
The East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office said it is “establishing the circumstances surrounding the landing of an aircraft off the runway”.
At the time of the incident the aircraft was flying from Yakutsk to Zyryanka and was due to continue on to Srednekolymsk followed by Yakuts.
