The reason for the emergency landing of the An-2 in Kamchatka could be icing

The probable cause of the emergency landing of the An-2 plane found in Kamchatka was icing, which led to the failure of instruments, the head of the Milkovsky district of the Kamchatka region, Nikolai Sepko, said on December 22.

"During the flight <...> in mountainous terrain, according to the commander, now we can already state it, the airplane got into the icing zone, navigation instruments failed and a technical malfunction was formed, as a result of which the airplane made a hard landing," he said.

According to Sepko, the plane departed on December 19 at 9:45 a.m. from Milkovo airport on the route Ossora - Ametistovoye mining and ore enterprise, and in the icing zone ended up near the settlements of Kozyrevsk and Klyuchi.

Two crew members and a passenger of the aircraft, which rescuers found and brought to Milkovo, will receive all the necessary medical care in the district hospital, said the head of the district. Now their life and health are not threatened.

To find those on board allowed coordinated actions of rescuers of the Kamchatka region, noted Sepko. He pointed out that the specialists did not stop trying to get to the point where the emergency landing beacon went off for three days, although the search was complicated by weather conditions and mountainous and forested terrain.

Earlier in the day, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kamchatka region, Sergei Lebedev, said that the previously missing An-2 airplane had been found in Kamchatka. People were evacuated by Mi-8 helicopter to Milkovo. Rosaviatsia spokesman Artem Korenyako specified that the An-2 with two crew members and a passenger was found near Tundrovaya Mountain. A criminal case on violation of the rules of operation of air transport has been instituted.

The crew members said that they tried to turn away from the mountain range, while the instruments did not show the flight speed and visibility was impaired by fog. The men said they had small supplies of food with them, tried not to leave the aircraft because of snow and wind, and dug a hole under the wing of the plane to sleep.

Doctors speculate that the three on board have hypothermia. One of the victims has a closed craniocerebral trauma, he underwent surgery, another was diagnosed with a chest contusion.

The disappearance of the An-2 aircraft became known on December 19. In the Department of Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the region specified that on board the plane in addition to three people were 800 kg of commercial cargo. Later, a signal was received about the emergency landing, and a ground group of rescuers went to the alleged place of its commission.

The next day helicopters with rescuers from the village of Milkovo and the town of Yelizovo flew out. Soon a stable radio signal of the lighthouse was caught. The search for the An-2 was complicated by weather conditions and terrain peculiarities, it was resumed on December 22 due to better weather.