Russia's aviation watchdog said on Sunday four people survived the crash of a charter plane bound for Moscow in northern Afghanistan, citing the Russian embassy there, and it said the condition of two other passengers on board was not yet clear, Reuters reported.
Two Taliban provincial officials said four survivors were now with Taliban administration officials who had reached the remote, mountainous site of the crash. They said that two other passengers had died.
The Taliban administration's top spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the pilot of the plane was among four who had survived.
"The investigative team of the Islamic Emirate continues their efforts to search for and provide assistance to the remaining individuals," he said in a statement.
The Russian-registered charter plane with six people on board disappeared from radar screens over Afghanistan a day earlier, Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Sunday, after Afghan police said they had received reports of a crash.
The plane was a charter ambulance flight travelling from Thailand's Utapao Airport in Pattaya to Moscow via India and Uzbekistan on a French-made Dassault Aviation (AM.PA), opens new tab Falcon 10 jet manufactured in 1978, Rosaviatsia said in a statement.
About 25 minutes before the plane vanished from radar screens, the pilot warned that fuel was running low and that the plane would try to land at an airport in Tajikistan, Russian news outlet SHOT reported, citing an unnamed source.
The pilot then reported that one engine had stopped, and then that the second one had also stopped, SHOT reported.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the details shared by SHOT.
India's civil aviation authority said the plane was not a scheduled commercial flight or an Indian chartered aircraft.
The flight was carrying out a private medical evacuation from Thailand's Pattaya, a popular tourist destination for Russians, to Moscow, Russian state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Russian embassy in Bangkok.
Follow the latest news on Google News
