Aviation resumes search for missing An-12 plane in Kolyma.

MAGADAN, August 10 (Itar-Tass) - Aviation on Wednesday morning resumed
the search for the An-12 transport plane that went missing in Kolyma. Two
Mi-8 helicopters flew from the Seimchan and Omsukchan settlements and a
Be-200 airplane with five specialists of the Far Eastern regional search
and rescue team of the RF Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) - from
Magadan. A group of rescuers from Khabarovsk has also went to the search
operation place by land transport, the press service of the EMERCOM main
department for the Magadan region reported.
A team of Kolyma rescuers has already arrived from Magadan to the area
of the Julietta gold mine where an emergency beacon of An-12 worked for
the last time. Other operational groups are expected to arrive shortly.
From the Julietta mine rescuers are expected to be taken by aircraft
directly to the search area for the missing plane. The total number of
forces and means involved in the search and rescue operation is 123 people
and 21 vehicles.
The Antonov An-12 of the Khabarovsk-based Avis-Amur airline on August
9 was flying from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to the Chukchi village of Keperveyem.
After refuelling and taking off in Magadan, the commander of the aircraft
at 16:39, local time (07:39 MSK) reported to air traffic controllers that
the plane had a fuel leak and fire in one of its engines in the area of
the Julietta gold mine in the Omsukchan district of the Magadan region.
After some time, communication with the crew was lost, and the aircraft
disappeared from radar screens.
Shortly after the supposed crash, an emergency beacon of the An-12
transmitted a signal near the village of Omsukchan 560 km from Magadan,
but then the signal disappeared. The search and rescue operation was
complicated by low clouds and rain. Rescuers failed to find the liner
before dark.