Reuters —
Russian An-26 military transport aircraft
Plane crashes into cliff in Crimea, killing 29 people
Board, due to possible technical failure, Russian defense
The ministry made the announcement early Wednesday morning, according to news outlets.
Contact with the aircraft was lost at around 6pm local time on Tuesday during a planned flight over Crimea, TASS news agency quoted the ministry as saying. Covered by vast mountains that extend all the way to the Black Sea coast, this peninsula was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
“The Ministry of Defense reported that search teams had found the scene of a catastrophe,” TASS news agency reported. “Reports from the scene indicate that six crew members and 23 passengers were killed.”
The ministry’s report does not list the number of passengers, but does not mention any survivors of the An-26. The An-26 is a light tactical military transport aircraft that can carry cargo and up to 40 passengers over short and medium distances and has been a workhorse for decades.
“There was no impact on aircraft,” TASS news agency quoted the ministry as saying, suggesting no missiles, drones, birds or other objects were involved.
“The main cause of the crash was a technical failure. A committee from the military is working at the scene,” the statement said.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of normal business hours.
The An-26 has been in service since the late 1960s and has also been used by airlines to transport cargo, but the model has been involved in a number of fatal crashes over the past decade.
In 2022, a Ukrainian An-26 crashed during a technical flight in the Zaporizhzhya region of southeastern Ukraine, killing one person. In 2020, another plane crashed during a training flight in northeastern Ukraine, killing all but one of the 27 people on board.
In 2020, an An-26 crashed in South Sudan, killing eight people, including five Russians. In 2017, an An-26 crashed on landing in Ivory Coast, West Africa, killing four of the 10 people on board.
