Plane crash in Afghanistan: A plane that crashed in the mountainous region of Afghanistan on Saturday night created confusion in India as multiple Afghan media that the ill-fated plane was an "Indian aircraft" and had several passengers on board that the local authorities feared dead in the "fatal accident".
Afghan media reported false claims
According to Afghanistan-based Tolo News, "An Indian passenger plane crashed in the mountains of Topkhana alongside the districts of Kuran-Munjan and Zibak of Badakhshan province, said head of the Department of Information and Culture of Badakhshan, Zabihullah Amiri. He said that a team has been sent to the area to investigate the incident. According to the local people, the plane crashed on Sunday morning."
Screengrabs of the social media posts of Afghan media.
In a similar fashion, another Afghan news agency, Khaama Press, also reported that the plane belonged to India and cited local authorities to back its claims."Local sources from Badakhshan province confirm that an Indian aircraft deviated from its original course and collided with the mountainous terrain of Zebak district in Badakhshan Saturday night, January 20th," it had reported. The story has now been edited and does not show any words related to "India" or Indian plane".
Indian government rejects Afghan media claims
However, later, the Indian government immediately issued a clarification that the plane did not belong to India and added it was a chartered flight. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that the plane was a Moroccan-registered DF 10 aircraft and added was neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non-Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft.
The unfortunate plane crash that has just occurred in Afghanistan is neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non-Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft. It is a Moroccan-registered small aircraft.
According to the DGCA, The crashed aircraft was a DF-10 (Dassault Falcon) small aircraft registered in Morocco. The aircraft was an air ambulance and was flying from Thailand to Moscow and did refuelling at Gaya Airport.
Some media reports the plane belonged to Russia
However, later, some conflicting reports also appeared on Russian media. News agency Reuters reported that Russian Aviation Authorities said that a Russian-registered plane with six people thought to be on board disappeared from radar screens over Afghanistan on Saturday evening. Although it also claimed that the plane was a French-made Dassault Falcon 10 jet. The plane was a charter flight travelling from India via Uzbekistan to Moscow.
Russian officials said the plane belongs to Athletic Group LLC and a private individual, the Associated Press reported. They also said the Falcon 10 involved in the crash had been built in 1978.
Last location of the plane was near Pakistan
A separate Taliban statement from Abdul Wahid Rayan, a spokesman for the Taliban's Information and Culture Ministry, described the plane as “belonging to a Moroccan company.” Rayan blamed an “engine problem” for the crash, without elaborating.
Tracking data from FlightRadar24 for the aircraft, analysed by the AP, showed the aircraft's last position just south of the city of Peshawar, Pakistan, at around 1330 GMT Saturday. At least Two Russian citizens were passengers on a charter flight bound for Moscow that disappeared over Afghanistan, Reuters quoted Russia's state-run TASS news agency said on Sunday, citing a source "in the operational services".
A manifest list for the plane which named everyone on board and which was published by the SHOT news outlet appeared to show that the crew were Russian nationals too.
Also Read: Passenger plane that crashed in Afghanistan did not belong to India, confirms government
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