Izhma Village

Izhma is the centre of the Izhma Komi, a distinct group of the Komi people with their own dialect and traditions, founded in 1567 on the bank of the Izhma river. In 1922–1929 the village was the centre of the Izhmo-Pechorsky district of the Komi autonomous region. Sights include the Transfiguration Church of 1806–1828, the merchant Noritsyn's house and the Popov house with the district museum. The village became world-famous on 7 September 2010: a Tu-154 with failed electronics landed on the abandoned dirt strip of the local airport. For 12 years after the airport closed, its former head Sergei Sotnikov had kept the runway serviceable on his own — thanks to which the landing claimed no lives among the 81 people on board. The story became a symbol of human decency and professionalism in one particular point of the North. The village lies 600 kilometres north-east of Syktyvkar and 200 km north of Ukhta — on the Pechora north, where other Izhma villages with reindeer-herding traditions live.