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Russian Plane Lands on Frozen River

by Reuters

   MOSCOW --

   A Soviet-era Antonov-24 aircraft carrying 30 passengers and 4
   crewmembers landed on a frozen river near an airport in Russia's far
   east on Thursday because of pilot error, transport prosecutors said.

   The Polar Airlines An-24 landed safely on the Kolyma river near
   Zyryanka in the Yakutia region, the prosecutors said. "According to
   preliminary information, the cause of the aviation incident was an
   error by the crew in piloting the aircraft," a spokesperson for the
   Eastern Siberian transport prosecutor said in a statement.

   Prosecutors published pictures of the aircraft on a frozen river. The
   Izvestia newspaper published pictures of passengers disembarking.

   "The An-24 aircraft landed outside of the runway of the Zyryanka
   airport," Polar Airlines said in a short statement.

   "There were no casualties," it said.