Passengers were terrified after a pilot unintentionally landed their jet on cracking ice on Russia’s renowned Kolyma River on Thursday.
The 52-year-old Antonov-24 aircraft had traveled from the world’s coldest city, Yakutsk, and had landed on the ice instead of a riverbank landing strip in minus 41 degrees Celsius.
According to the Daily Mail, thirty passengers and four crew members were safely evacuated from the Polar Airlines on foot.
According to the article, the unnamed pilot mistaken the frozen Kolyma River for a small landing strip at isolated Zyryanka, which is 70 miles below the Arctic Circle and has a population of less than 4,000 people.
The Kolyma River rises in the Kolyma Mountains in northeastern Siberia, far eastern Russia. It stretches about 1,323 miles (2,129 kilometers) and drains an area of 250,000 square miles (647,000 square kilometers).
The plane, which was used to transport inmates to forced labor camps during the reign of former Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, was abandoned on the ice of the Kolyma River.
The ice is estimated to be 2 feet 7 inches thick, however photographs show a visible long break near the aircraft.
Meanwhile, Evening Yakutsk said that “there were no casualties,” and that the aircraft was not moved despite incurring no serious damage.
It was also revealed that the jet did not land in Srednekolymsk as planned.
The Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia called the river landing a “serious incident.”
“During the landing, [the plane] deviated from the runway,” said the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office.
“According to preliminary information, the cause of the aviation event was a crew error in piloting the aircraft,” said the prosecutor’s office.
The report revealed that authorities have launched an investigation into the incident. (Vanguard)