Angara passenger plane crashes in Siberia, killing 5

Angara passenger plane crashes in Siberia, killing 5

2011-07-11 20:16:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- At least five people were killed and 20 others were injured when an Angara Airlines passenger plane crashed into a river in Siberia on Monday morning, the regional airline confirmed. It is feared the death toll could rise.

The accident happened at around 8.55 a.m. local time when an Antonov An-24 crashed into the Ob River, about 63 kilometers (39 miles) from Nizhnevartovsk, a city in Russia's Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Flight 5007 was on its way from Tomsk to Surgut.

The Russian airline said in a statement released to the press that the crew had decided to carry out an emergency landing in the Ob River after their left engine had caught fire. "On board were 33 passengers, including one child, and four crew members," the statement said.

Angara Airlines, which provides regional flights with a fleet of less than ten aircraft, said at least five people were killed in the accident. Twenty others were taken to a regional hospital where four of them remain in a critical condition.

Russia has seen a number of major aviation accidents over the last few years, in part because of its use of old aircraft. A total of 47 people were killed on June 20 when a RusLine passenger plane crashed near a city in northwest Russia. Several others survived the accident.

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