Well, let's hope this year everything goes as planned and they don't lose another aircraft to the Arctic Ocean.
When did they "Lose an aircraft"? I recall one being damaged, but not "lost to the Arctic Ocean".
...
Yes, that's the aircraft in question and short story yes, initially they thought they could repair it, but apparently the damage was too severe. The likely only pieces recovered were both engines and some flaps and rudders.
Before I start with the longer story, I have to clarify, that there was no official statement regarding the final fate of the aircraft, but there is quite clear evidence of what happened.
As you said the Antonov made a hard landing causing heavy damage to the right main landing gear. The initial plan, as reported by
Svalbardposten (
Google Translate), was to get spare parts and mechanics to Barneo and after a successful repair let test pilots fly the airplane back to a proper airfield. This is confirmed by statements in a documentary about Barneo, which can be found on
. After that there had been no news for quite some time, until Svalbardposten
reported again in June, that the aircraft was still at Barneo and would not be flown out, but instead shoud've been retrieved via an icebreaker. An
aerial image from 31. May confirms the Antonov had been sitting at a parking position beside the runway with black marks on the shoulders, indicating, that the engines had been removed. Another
image from 19. June shows the airplane still at the same spot. A
third image from 28. July pictures one of the removed engines. A
gallery covering the evacuation of the camp then showed the recovery of the engines and some smaller parts like flaps or rudders. What was missing, was any sign of the fuselage. Indeed an
earlier image from 31. July shows, that there was a crack running right through the position, where the aircaft had been parked. This was the first clear sign, that it broke through the ice. Further hints came via
a russian forum (
Google Translate), see the posts from 31. July and 16. September. In the meantime the Svalbardposten had been trying to get an official statement, but its inquiries were not answered,
as reported on 18. September.