A Russian military transport plane has crashed in Crimea — 29 people have been killed
A Russian An-26 aircraft has crashed in occupied Crimea. All 29 people on board were killed. The preliminary cause is believed to be a technical fault with the aircraft.
This has been reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence and Russian news agencies.
The An-26 lost contact over the temporarily occupied Crimea on 31 March at around 6 pm. Rescuers later located the crash site. Among the dead were 23 passengers and the entire crew of six.
The Russian Ministry of Defence stated that the cause of the crash was a technical fault, not a collision. At the same time, Russian media report that the aircraft’s fuselage struck a cliff.
The An-26 is a Soviet military transport aircraft used to carry troops and equipment over medium distances. This is not the first such disaster: in 2021, a similar aircraft crashed in Kamchatka, killing 28 people.
