Plane that crashed in Afghanishtan not Indian: Civil Aviation Ministry
What's the story
A commercial aircraft crashed in Afghanistan's northeast Badakhshan province on Saturday night (local time), local media reported.
The origin of the plane could not be immediately verified, but some reports claimed it was an Indian plane.
However, the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a clarification, saying that none of India's regular flights fly that route. It claimed the plane was a Moroccan-registered small aircraft.
Statement
Multiple casualties feared on 'passenger carrier': Reports
A senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official said, "A plane that crashed in the mountains of Topkhana alongside the districts of Kuran-Munjan and Zibak of Badakhshan province, was Moroccan registered DF 10 aircraft."
The Indian government had earlier dispatched a team to verify the details.
Reports suggested that there might be casualties as the aircraft is said to be a passenger carrier.
Twitter Post
Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA's post on crash
The unfortunate plane crash that has just occurred in Afghanistan is neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non-Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft. It is a Moroccan-registered small aircraft. More details are awaited: Ministry of Civil Aviation pic.twitter.com/tjY3GA8NEW
— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2024
Official
Crash location not known, team sent to verify: Afghan government
Afghanistan's head of the provincial information department, Zabihullah Amiri, said the location of the plane was still unknown.
"We have sent teams but they have not arrived yet. We were informed by local people in the morning," he told AFP.
The mighty Hindu Kush mountain range cuts through Badakhshan, which is home to Afghanistan's highest mountain, Mount Noshaq, at 24,580 feet high.
Details
Plane vanished from radar before crash: Police
Separately, the head of information and culture for the Taliban in the province said that the passenger plane went down in Topkhaneh.
The police command in Badakhshan claimed the plane vanished from radar on Saturday and probably crashed in the high mountains of Topkhana.
Meanwhile, The Times of India reported that it was a Russian medical aircraft, the Dassault Falcon 10, carrying six people.