A Russian millionaire and his wife are feared to be dead after their jet crashed into a mountain range in Afghanistan, according to reports.
Entrepreneur Anatoly Evsyukov, 65 and his wife, Anna Evsyukova, 64, were aboard the Dassault Falcon 10 aircraft when it fell off the radar near the rural Badakhshan province, in northeastern Afghanistan, on Saturday.
Anna had become seriously ill on a luxury holiday in Thailand and was being flown back to Russia for treatment.
Her husband and business partner, Anatoly, was decorated by Vladimir Putin’s regional governor for ‘valiant’ work building the economy in Rostov region.
After Anna had developed a mysterious infection, requiring ventilator treatment, her husband chartered a medical evacuation plane to move her from a hospital in Pattaya to fly back to Moscow.
Anatoly Evsyukov, 65, was decorated by Vladimir Putin ‘s regional governor for ‘valiant’ work building the economy in Rostov region
Anna Evsyukova , 64, had become seriously ill on a luxury holiday in Thailand and was being flown back to Russia for treatment
Their son Vitali, 41, was not permitted on the small executive air ambulance as only one accompanying passenger was allowed.
He flew on a scheduled flight to Moscow, learning of the horrific crash after he landed.
One of the other victims, Arkady Grachev, was reported to be the ex-husband of Ekaterina Agapova, the head of the company which owned the plane.
They are believed to amongst the six passengers, including four crew members, killed on the ill-fated Dassault Falcon 10.
The charted ambulance flight left Thailand on Saturday and refuelled in India, but according to Shot media in Russia, the pilots reported problems with the engines and fuel while flying over Afghanistan.
Crew had alerted air traffic control about the fuel problem at 7.05pm local time on Saturday, and was seeking to land in Tajikistan on an unscheduled stop.
The couple were aboard the Russian-registered Dassault Falcon 10 aircraft when it fell off the radar near the rural Badakhshan province, in northeastern Afghanista
One engine failed at 19.19pm, and the other ten minutes later, before the jet disappeared from radar at about 19.30pm local time, 35 miles from Kulob airport in Tajikistan.
The aircraft was on a route traveling from Gaya, India, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, before proceeding to Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow.
Telegram channel, AviaSpotter, identified the wealthy couple, along with the crew named as Dmitry Belyakov, Arkady Grachev, Igor Syvorotkin and Pavel Popov – two of whom were paramedics.
The aircraft is registered in Russia, according to the country’s Federal Air Transport Agency, and belongs to ATLETIK-GRUPP LLC, based in Lyubertsy, Moscow region, and a private individual.
The head of the company Ekaterina Agapova said: ‘Nothing is known yet, now I’m trying to understand the situation and understand what happened. There is no confirmed data yet.’
Russian state and independent media highlighted footage purporting to show smoke rising from the crash site
Russian state and independent media highlighted footage purporting to show the crash site.
The footage purportedly shows smoke rising from the site at least 12 hours after the crash, which would have been in darkness.
The crash appears a first since Russian planes were subject to sanctions as a result of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions have caused multiple emergency landings due to lack of spare parts and maintenance involving Western suppliers.
However it is unclear whether the sanctions would have been imposed on an air ambulance.
This is reported to be the ninth incident with a Russian plane since the beginning of the year and the eighth to occur during a flight in the last nine days.
India’s civil aviation authority said that the plane crash was not a scheduled commercial flight or an Indian chartered aircraft and that ‘more details are awaited.’