Miracle escape as pilot lands passenger plane on a frozen river after mistaking it for a runway

A passenger plane landed on cracking ice on a notorious Russian river today due to pilot error.

Thirty passengers and four crew members were safely evacuated on foot from the Polar Airlines An-24 propeller plane in Yakutia, Siberia's coldest region.

The pilot mistook the frozen Kolyma River for a small airstrip in remote Zyryanka, about 70 miles below the Arctic Circle with a population of less than 4,000 people.

The plane is stranded on the ice of the Kolyma River and was used to transport prisoners to forced labor camps during the Stalin era.

The 52-year-old An-24 plane had flown from the world's coldest city Yakutsk and accidentally landed on the frozen ice instead of a riverbank runway at a temperature of minus 41 degrees Celsius.

The ice is believed to be 6.5 meters thick, but photos show a clear long crack near the plane.

“There were no casualties,” media outlet Evening Yakutsk said.

The plane has not been moved despite not sustaining any significant damage, reports said.

The plane did not fly to Srednekolymsk as planned.

The river landing was categorized as a 'serious incident' by Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency.

“During landing, (the plane) deviated from the runway,” the Eastern Siberia Prosecutor's Office said. It landed on the Kolyma River.

According to some accounts, it came to rest on or near a sand spit in the river.

“According to preliminary information, the cause of the aviation event was an error by the crew in piloting the aircraft,” the prosecutor's office said.

An investigation has been launched into the blunder.