A RUSSIAN millionaire and his wife are feared dead after a plane slammed into a mountain in Afghanistan.
Anatoly Evsyukov's wife Anna had become seriously ill on a luxury holiday in Thailand and was being flown back to Russia for treatment on the chartered aircraft.
The Russian-registered plane with six people on board vanished from radar screens in a mountainous area in Afghanistan on Saturday - and Afghan cops received reports of a crash.
Two Taliban officials confirmed two passengers - who have not been identified - had been killed.
But four others, including the pilot, were miraculously found alive by search and rescue teams on Sunday.
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Evsyukov had been honoured by Vladimir Putin’s regional governor for his "valiant" work building the economy in Rostov region.
He accompanied his wife Anna on the flight after she developed a mystery infection and needed urgent ventilator treatment.
Evsyukov chartered the medical evacuation plane to move her from a hospital in Pattaya to fly back to Moscow, according to reports.
The two Russian passengers were on board the plane along with four crew members - including two paramedics, it was reported.
The plane left Thailand on Saturday and refuelled in India.
It's understood the pilots reported problems with the engines and fuel levels while flying over Afghanistan before vanishing from radar screens at 7.30pm local time.
Footage appeared to show smoke rising from the site at least 12 hours after the crash, which would have been in darkness.
The Taliban's Transportation and Civil Aviation Ministry said the plane was found in the province's Kuf Ab district, near the Aruz Koh mountain, on Sunday.
"The pilot was found by the search team of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the statement said.
"According to the pilot, four people including the pilot are alive.
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"The search and assistance of the Islamic Emirate investigation team for the remaining survivors is ongoing."
Khan Mohammad, head of the provincial governor's office, said the four surviving passengers were now with Taliban administration representatives.
In Moscow, Russian civil aviation authorities confirmed a Falcon 10 went missing with four crew members and two passengers.
The aircraft is registered in Russia, according to the country’s Federal Air Transport Agency.
It was said to belong to ATLETIK-GRUPP LLC - based in Lyubertsy, Moscow region - and a private individual.
Badakhshan - a rural, mountainous area, home to only several thousand people - is some 155 miles northeast of Kabul.
India's civil aviation authority said that the plane crash was not a scheduled commercial flight or an Indian chartered aircraft and that "more details are awaited".
