Russian military plane crashes over Crimea, killing 29
MOSCOW — A Russian military transport plane crashed over the Crimean Peninsula, killing 29 people, the country's defense ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry said in a statement that there were 23 passengers and six crew members on board.
"During a scheduled flight over the Crimean peninsula on March 31 at around 6:00 PM Moscow time (1500GMT), communication with the An-26 military transport aircraft was lost," it said.
A search and rescue team located the crash site of the An-26 aircraft, and there were no survivors, it added.
TASS news agency, quoting the ministry, said the crash site had been located in Crimea, a peninsula jutting into the Black Sea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
“The AN-26 aircraft, with which communication was lost earlier, crashed into a cliff, it was reported to TASS from the site of the crash,” TASS news agency reported.
RIA news agency said according to an initial assessment, technical problems were believed to have caused the crash.
A commission from the ministry is working at the crash site.
No evidence of external impact on the aircraft has been found, and the preliminary cause of the incident is a technical malfunction, the ministry said. — Agencies
