A WEALTHY Russian couple are feared dead after a jet slammed into a mountain in Afghanistan.
The wife of millionaire entrepreneur Anatoly Evsyukov had become seriously ill on a luxury holiday in Thailand and was being flown back to Russia for treatment on the chartered aircraft.
Russian millionaire Anatoly Evsyukov is believed to be one of the victims of the fatal airplane crash in AfghanistanEast2West
He was accompanied by his wife Anna Evsyukova, who fell ill whilst on Holiday in ThailandEast2West
The suspected site of Falcon plane crash in Afghanistan that left six deadEast2West
Evsyukov had been decorated by Vladimir Putin’s regional governor for “valiant” work building the economy in Rostov region.
He accompanied his wife Anna Evsyukova on the flight after she developed a mystery infection and needed ventilator treatment.
Evsyukov chartered a medical evacuation plane to move her from a hospital in Pattaya to fly back to Moscow.
The plane left Thailand on Saturday and refuelled in India.
“Over Afghanistan, the pilots reported problems with the engines and fuel,” said Shot media in Russia.
“The plane crashed into the mountains [in Afghanistan].”
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.
Another victim, Arkady Grachev, was reported to be the ex-husband of Ekaterina Agapova, the head of the company which owned the plane.
The couple shared a child and were business partners.
The Falcon 10 plane registered in Russia crashed into the mountains in Afghanistan, reports said on Sunday.
Russian state and independent media highlighted footage purporting to show the crash site.
Two Russian passengers – one male, one female – were aboard the plane, along with four crew members, it was reported.
It is feared that all six have been killed.
The aircraft is believed to have been operating as an air ambulance, it is believed.
Two of the crew were paramedics.
Those on board were named by AviaSpotter Telegram channel as Anatoly Evsyukov and Anna Evsyukova, along with the crew named as Dmitry Belyakov, Arkady Grachev, Igor Syvorotkin and Pavel Popov.
One version said the crew had alerted air traffic control that they were running low on fuel and both engines subsequently failed.
The aircraft is registered in Russia, according to the country’s Federal Air Transport Agency.
It was said to belong to ATLETIK-GRUPP LLC, based in Lyubertsy, Moscow region, and a private individual.
It crashed in the mountainous Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan.
Shot media in Russia said the plane reported a fuel problem at 7.05pm local time on Saturday and was seeking to land in Tajikistan on an unscheduled stop.
One engine failed at 7.19pm and the other ten minutes later.
The plane disappeared from radar at about 7.30pm local time, 35 miles from Kulob airport in Tajikistan.
The plane was operating a charter ambulance flight on the route Gaya (India) – Tashkent (Uzbekistan) – Zhukovsky (Moscow, Russia), according to the owning company.
The head of the firm 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.”
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 of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
This has caused multiple emergency landings due to lack of spare parts and maintenance involving Western suppliers.
However it is unclear that 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.”
The Falcon 10 air ambulance jet was reportedly ‘running out of fuel’East2West
East2WestAnatoly Evsyukov (right) with son Vitali, 41, who was not allowed on the stricken jet[/caption]