Russian private jet with six onboard believed to have crashed in Afghanistan; rescue underway

Islamabad, Jan 21 (AP) A Russian private jet carrying six people is believed to have crashed in a remote area of rural Afghanistan, authorities said Sunday.

The plane had been operating as a charter ambulance flight on a route from Gaya, India, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, onward to Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow.

The crash happened Saturday in a mountainous area near Zebak district in Badakhshan province, regional spokesman Zabihullah Amiri said, adding that a rescue team had been dispatched to the area.

Badakhshan police chief's office also confirmed the report of the crash in a statement.

From Moscow, Russian civil aviation authorities said a Dassault Falcon 10 went missing with four crew members and two passengers.

The plane “stopped communicating and disappeared from radar screens,” authorities said.

Russian officials said the plane belongs to Athletic Group LLC and a private individual. The Associated Press could not immediately reach its owners.

A separate Taliban statement described the plane as “belonging to a Moroccan company.” The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.

International carriers have largely avoided Afghanistan since the Taliban's 2021 takeover of the country. Those that briefly fly over rush through Afghan airspace for only a few minutes while over the sparsely populated Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan province, a narrow panhandle that juts out of the east of the country between Tajikistan and Pakistan, before continuing their way. (AP)