ARKHANGELSK, October 7. /TASS/. Experts of the Russian Arctic National Park found fragments of an aircraft during research on an ice dome on the Alexandra Land Island of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, the park's Director Alexander Kirilov told TASS.
"In the Kropotkin dome on the Alexandra Land Island, we have drilled and installed special poles for glacier research. This year, we were walking there to see changes on the dome, and found a triangulation sign at the site of what must have been an aircraft crash. Plus fragments of that aircraft. As yet, we don't know what kind of aircraft it is, but we know exactly where it was," he said.
The scientists have found the aircraft skin's fragments on the glacier. According to the park's director, the incident occurred in 1968. The park's specialists will clarify what kind of aircraft it was and what has happened to it. "We will find out what kind of aircraft it was, whether there was a crash and victims. We need to understand what kind of aircraft it was and what kind of story is connected with it," he added.
Several aviation accidents have occurred on the Franz Josef Land archipelago over years. For example, on the Rudolf Island, have been found remains of Vasily Makhotkin's plane, which flew to that island in 1936, then, in 1937, another pilot flew on it, and, in September, 1937, the plane crashed there. In 1981, an Ilyushin IL-14 crashed on the Heiss Island, two people died in that accident. An Arctic cleanup mission has taken place on the Heiss Island, and specialists decided to preserve the plane and not transport it from the island.
The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia's northernmost and largest specially protected natural area. The park takes the northern part of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago's Severny Island, and the entire Franz Josef Land Archipelago. The national park is a most inaccessible territory in Russia and in the world.