UPDATE - Casualties feared as plane crashes in northern Afghanistan

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM INDIAN AVIATION MINISTRY, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Aamir Latif

ANKARA/KARACHI (AA) Casualties are feared as a charter plane with six people onboard crashed in northern Afghanistan, officials and local media reported on Sunday.

A statement from Afghanistan's Information Ministry said that the ill-fated plane that belonged to an Indian company crashed in northern Badakhshan province.

There were no immediate reports about the casualties.

Zabihullah Amiri, an official of the provincial Department of Information and Culture, said that a team has been sent to the crash site in the Topkhana area of Kuran-wa-Munjan district.

However, the Indian Aviation Ministry clarified that the plane was neither owned by the Indian government nor a company.

"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," the ministry said in a post on X.

Russian aviation authorities said that the plane with six people onboard was a charter flight traveling from India via Uzbekistan to Moscow.

The plane, a French-made Dassault Falcon 10 jet, was registered in Russia and disappeared from radar screens over Afghanistan on Saturday evening, the Russian authorities said.

It said it is in touch with the Afghanistan and Uzbekistan governments regarding the developments.