Passenger Plane Crashes in Afghanistan's Badakhshan

Jan 21: A passenger plane crashed in the mountains of Topkhana within the area of districts of Kuran-Munjan and Zibak of Badakhshan province, said the head of the Department of Information and Culture of Badakhshan, Zabihullah Amiri.

He initially said that the plane was Indian, although information is still being gathered to determine its origin. He said that a team had been sent to the area to investigate the incident.

But the X account of India's Ministry of Civil Aviation denied that the plane was Indian.

“The unfortunate plane crash that has just occurred in Afghanistan is neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non-Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft,”

Indian’s Civil Aviation Ministry said on X. “It is a Moroccan-registered small aircraft. More details are awaited.”

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Civil Aviation and Transport said in a statement that the plane’s path was not within Afghanistan’s air space but due to technical problems, it was diverted from its path.

Based on initial information, the statement said, “The Russian private jet (FALCON -10) with 6 passengers was heading from India to Tashkent and went out of radar last night around 07:00 PM.”

Meanwhile, Reuters reported from Russian aviation authorities that a Russian-registered plane with six people thought to be on board disappeared from radar screens over Afghanistan the previous night, after local Afghan police said they had received reports of a crash.

Russian aviation authorities said in a statement the plane was a charter ambulance flight travelling from India, via Uzbekistan to Moscow on a French-made Dassault Aviation Falcon 10 jet manufactured in 1978. (TOLOnews)