Russian passenger plane lands on frozen river by mistake

The passenger plane landed safely on the river despite the pilot's error

A passenger plane with 34 people on board has landed on a frozen river in Russia's Far East, apparently because of a mistake by the pilot.

No-one was hurt when the Polar Airlines Soviet-era Antonov An-24 plane came to a halt on Thursday morning not far from land, on the frozen River Kolyma.

The plane landed off the runway of Zyryanka airport.

Initial inquiries said pilot error was to blame, prosecutors said. Thirty passengers and four crew were on board.

Flight PI217 left Yakutsk, the capital of the Sakha republic in Russia's Far East, early on Thursday.

It was bound for Zyryanka, 1,100km (685 miles) to the north-east, and was due to fly on to another small town in Srednekolymsk before returning to Yakutsk.

Video from one of the passengers showed the plane almost in the centre of the frozen River Kolyma in eastern Siberia. Temperatures in Zyryanka dip to around -40C at this time of year.

Prosecutors said the plane had landed on a sandbank in the river. A trail in the snow revealed how long it had taken to come to a standstill.

Prosecutors said the plane had landed on a sandbank