Three found alive in Russia’s Kamchatka region three days after plane crash

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All three people on the missing plane were rescued from the crash site in Kamchatka, a remote Russian peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, local officials said.

The An-2 aircraft had been missing for three days before it was found in Kamchatka, officials said on Sunday. According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, three people who survived the crash were transported to hospital.

The two surviving crew and one passenger spent three days without food and tried to stay warm in the snow by burning fuel.

One of them told local media: “We kept warm inside the plane, burning fuel and eating the food we had. We turned on the emergency beacon, prayed and believed in a miracle.”

Another of the trio said they melted the snow in a bucket to provide drinking water.

Local media reports say one of the pilots has been diagnosed with a closed brain injury and will undergo surgery, while another is suffering from hypothermia.

It was reported that the pilots heard signals that a search was being made for them, but they were unable to communicate due to adverse weather conditions.

Survivors of the plane crash were found by rescuers from the Kamchatka Regional Air Transport Service of the Russian Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsia.

The An-2, owned by a private company, flew from the village of Milkovo to the village of Ossora in the north of the peninsula on December 19 to carry commercial cargo.

Officials said the plane began to descend due to severe cold and overloading.

The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said its Investigative Committee had initiated criminal proceedings regarding the incident for violation of air transport operation regulations.