Millionaire Russian entrepreneur and his wife are feared dead after executive jet with six on board crashed into mountain in Afghanistan when it developed ‘problems with the engines and fuel’

A Russian millionaire and his wife are feared dead after their plane crashed into a mountain range in Afghanistan, according to reports.

Entrepreneur Anatoly Evsyukov, 65, and his wife, Anna Evsyukova, 64, were aboard the Dassault Falcon 10 plane on Saturday when it disappeared from radar near rural Badakhshan province, northeastern Afghanistan.

Anna had become seriously ill during a luxury holiday in Thailand and was flown back to Russia for treatment.

Her husband and business partner Anatoly was awarded by Vladimir Putin’s regional governor for “brave” work in building the economy in the Rostov region.

After Anna contracted a mysterious infection that required treatment with a ventilator, her husband chartered a medical evacuation plane to move her from a hospital in Pattaya and back to Moscow.

Anna Evsyukova, 64, had become seriously ill during a luxury holiday in Thailand and was flown back to Russia for treatment

Their son Vitali, 41, was not allowed on the small executive air ambulance because only one accompanying passenger was allowed.

He flew on a scheduled flight to Moscow and learned of the horrific crash after he landed.

One of the other victims, Arkady Grachev, is said to be the ex-husband of Ekaterina Agapova, the head of the company that owned the plane.

They are believed to be among the six passengers, including four crew members, who died on the ill-fated Dassault Falcon 10.

The mapped ambulance flight left Thailand on Saturday and refueled in India, but according to Shot media in Russia, the pilots reported problems with the engines and fuel while flying over Afghanistan.

The crew had informed air traffic control of the fuel problem at 7:05 PM local time on Saturday and attempted to land in Tajikistan via an unscheduled stop.

The couple was aboard the Russian-registered Dassault Falcon 10 aircraft when it disappeared from radar near rural Badakhshan province, northeastern Afghanistan.

One engine failed at 7:19 p.m. and the other 10 minutes later, before the plane disappeared from radar at about 7:30 p.m. local time, 56 kilometers from Kulob Airport in Tajikistan.

The plane was on a route from Gaya, India, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, before proceeding to Moscow’s Zhukovsky International Airport.

Telegram channel AviaSpotter identified the wealthy couple, along with the crew named Dmitry Belyakov, Arkady Grachev, Igor Syvorotkin and Pavel Popov – two of whom were paramedics.

The plane is registered in and belongs to Russia, according to the country’s Federal Air Transport Agency to ATLETIK-GRUPP LLC, located in Lyubertsy, Moscow region, and a private individual.

The head of the company Ekaterina Agapova said: “Nothing is known yet, now I am trying to understand the situation and understand what happened. There are no confirmed details yet.”

Russian state and independent media have highlighted images claiming smoke rising from the crash site

Russian state and independent media published images purporting to show the crash site.

The footage shows smoke rising from the site at least twelve hours after the crash, which would have occurred in the dark.

The crash appears to be a first since Russian planes were subject to sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions have led to several emergency landings due to a lack of spare parts and maintenance involving Western suppliers.

However, it is unclear whether the sanctions would also have been imposed on an air ambulance.

This is reportedly the ninth incident involving a Russian aircraft since the beginning of this year and the eighth on a flight in the past nine days.

India’s Civil Aviation Authority said the plane crash did not involve a commercial scheduled flight or an Indian chartered aircraft and that “more details are awaited.”