Russian jet crashes in Afghanistan killing two

An Afghan government official confirmed Monday that at least two people have been killed after a Russian plane crashed on the hillside of northeast Afghanistan, as earlier reports indicated that the aircraft was carrying six people.

The Russian Falcon 10 was reported to be transporting people from India to Uzbekistan and Russia before the aircraft lost communication Saturday evening.

Four people survived, and two were initially reported as unaccounted for by air transport agency Rosaviatsia.

Citing the Russian embassy in Afghanistan, Rosaviatsia had said Sunday: "Of the six people on board the aircraft, tentatively, four are alive. They have various injuries. The fate of two people is being clarified."

However, an Afghan official at the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation later said that the two other passengers had died in the accident.

"We did a search for two days and yesterday evening we found the location of the plane. It had six crew members. We rescued the four that were alive. Two people died," Abdul Sattar Gharwal, the director general of the ministry, said.

The four survivors were taken to Kabul.

The RIA Novosti news agency said two of the plane's passengers were Russians, one who was seriously ill, and the other her husband who had paid for the flight.

The two-engine plane was built by France's Dassault in 1978 and owned by a company called Athletic Group and a private individual.

A provincial government official in Afghanistan told AFP the aircraft came down in Badakhshan province, which borders China, Tajikistan and Pakistan.

The area of the crash is eight hours by road from the provincial capital Faizabad, said Zabihullah Amiri, head of the provincial information department.

Russian investigators have announced the opening of a probe into the cause of the crash.

The mighty Hindu Kush mountain range cuts through the province, which is home to Afghanistan's highest peak, Mount Noshaq, at 7,492 metres (24,580 feet) tall.