Investigators, working on the site where an aging Antonov An-12 cargo plane crashed in Russia’s Far East last week, cannot leave the place due to poor weather conditions, a spokesman for the local emergencies ministry’s department said.
“Investigators, forensics and aviation experts – in all, about 40 people, cannot leave the Omsukchan region. They are forced to remain in a tent camp some five kilometers from the crash scene. It rains heavily and the visibility is close to zero,” the spokesman said.
The crash site is located in the Omsukchan region, a remote and hard-to-reach area in Russia’s Far East.
The plane, flying from the city of Magadan to the Chukotka Autonomous Area in Russia’s extreme northeast, was carrying 11 people and around 18 metric tons of cargo. It disappeared from radars some 300 km (186 miles) from its takeoff point shortly after reporting a fuel leak and engine fire last Tuesday.
No survivors were found when rescuers reached the crash site in helicopters on Wednesday morning last week.
The Emergencies Ministry reported that the flight recorders have been discovered and that debris from the plane was scattered across a radius of several kilometers.