NEW DELHI, Jan 21 (Bernama) — India’s Civil Aviation Ministry said a small plane that crashed in Afghanistan made a refuelling stop in the eastern Indian state of Bihar but it did not belong to an Indian entity.
“It is not an aircraft of Indian carriers. The aircraft was an air ambulance and was flying from Thailand to Moscow and did refuelling at Gaya Airport,” it said on Sunday.
Earlier media reports quoting Afghan authorities said the Moscow-bound aircraft was Indian.
However, Russian media said the plane was registered in Russia.
The jet was registered with a Russian company and travelling from Gaya to Moscow via Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, Russian news network RT reported, citing aviation agency Rosaviatsiya.
The plane carrying six people disappeared from radar screens on Saturday night in Afghanistan’s mountainous Badakhshan region.
Zabihullah Amiri, a spokesman for the Badakhshan administration, said a team has been sent to the crash site to investigate the incident.
— BERNAMA
