Moscow-Bound Chartered Flight Disappears Over Afghanistan

Four crew members and two passengers were aboard the flight.

Moscow-Bound Chartered Flight Disappears Over Afghanistan

Russian aviation authorities reported Sunday that a Russian-registered plane carrying six people had vanished from radar screens above Afghanistan.

According to sources, Afghan authorities received information about a crash in Badakhshan province.

The plane was a charter medical journey from India to Moscow via Uzbekistan on a French-made Dassault Falcon 10 jet built in 1978.

The flight included four crew members and two passengers.

However, India's civil aviation authority stated that the jet accident was neither a scheduled commercial flight nor an Indian chartered aircraft, according to Reuters.

The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation stated on X, formerly known as Twitter: "The terrible plane disaster that occurred in Afghanistan is neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non-Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft. It is a Moroccan-registered small aircraft. More information is awaited."

According to the Afghan provincial police spokesperson, the crash occurred overnight in Badakhshan, a remote, hilly region in northern Afghanistan.

"We were informed by local people in the morning," Zabihullah Amiri, head of the province communications department, told AFP, without providing any further information.

He stated that there was no verifiable data regarding the reason for the incident or the number of casualties.

Dassault, the aircraft manufacturer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment beyond normal business hours.