The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Sunday informed that the unfortunate plane crash that occurred in Afghanistan, claiming the lives of 7 Russsians, was neither an “Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft.”

Confirming the plane crash in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province in the early morning hours on Sunday, the Ministry said the aircraft was an air ambulance flying from Thailand to Moscow.

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“As per available information, the crashed aircraft is a DF-10 (Dassault Falcon) small aircraft registered in Morocco. It is not an aircraft of Indian carriers. The aircraft was an air ambulance and was flying from Thailand to Moscow and refuelling at Gaya Airport,” the Ministry said in a report of aircraft crashed in Afghanistan.

The DF-10 aircraft, registered in Morocco, crashed in the mountains of Topkhana along the districts of Kuran-Munjan and Zibak of the Badakhshan province today.

Taliban on Sunday said the Russian business jet which crashed in Afghanistan in Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan had seven Russians on board.

Taliban Spokesman Abdul Wahid Rayan said that the crash happened due to the engine failure.

“The plane crashed due to an engine failure. There were seven Russians on board. The aircraft belonged to a Moroccan firm,” Abdul Wahid Rayan wrote on X.

TOLOnews reported that the head of local Information and Culture Department Zabihullah Amiri said that a search team has been sent to the area.

Afghanistan-based news portal TOLOnews had claimed earlier that the ill-fated aircraft was an Indian passenger flight.

However, an official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the top regulator for flight services in the country, confirmed that it was not an Indian plane.

“The plane that crashed in the mountains of Topkhana, alongside the districts of Kuran-Munjan and Zibak in Badakhshan province, was a Moroccan-registered DF-10 aircraft,” the DGCA official said.

“We have got confirmation from the Air Traffic Control and other aviation bodies regarding the plane that was involved in the crash. It was identified as a Moroccan-registered DF-10 aircraft,” the official added.

The plane, according to TOLOnews, crashed in the mountains of Topkhana, alongside the districts of Kuran-Munjan and Zibak in Badakhshan. Citing the local residents, the Afghan portal reported that the plane crashed in the early hours of Sunday.

The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency or Rosaviatsiya has said that the aircraft was a Falcon 10 corporate jet and registered with a Russian company.

“The plane was en route from Gaya in India to Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport, via Uzbek capital Tashkent. The aircraft initially departed from Thailand’s Utapao Airport,” Rosaviatsiya said.

It said that there were four crew members and two passengers on board.

Rosaviatsiya said that the plane was carrying out a medical evacuation from the Thai city of Pattaya of a Russian woman accompanied by her husband, according to the Russian Consulate in Bangkok.

It said that the Falcon 10 is an early business jet from the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation. It was produced between 1971 and 1989, but remains popular on the secondary market.