Friday, the 13th of November 2020 was not the best day in history of the Volga-Dnepr Company. The 30 years old AN-124 with the registration RA-82042 has been prepared for a flight from Seoul to Vienna with a planned stop in Novosibirsk.

After lining up on runway 25 and taking off from the airport Novosibirsk-Tolmachevo shortly after 12 pm, engine 2 of the AN-124 exploded and the comms disconnected. These issues forced the pilots to fly back to the snowy airport of departure after just two minutes in the air. While landing the big bird, the aircraft slid off the runway for approximately 200 meters and damaged the gears and wings.

Onboard, 14 crew members have experienced this accident. Luckily, none of them are injured. The AN-124 had the mission to deliver automobile spare parts to Vienna and all of them got through this accident in the best status too.

Volga-Dnepr is now analyzing the situation in cooperation with the aviation authorities and Novosibirsk-Tolmachevo airport.

Photos taken after the emergency landing clearly show the damage the explosion caused at engine 2 and particularly the left wing.