Among those killed when a military transport aircraft crashed in Crimea were servicemembers of Russia’s Northern Fleet, Murmansk Governor Andrei Chibis said. He did not specify how many Northern Fleet personnel died in the crash. The aircraft had seven crew members and 22 passengers on board; none survived.
Chibis said he would provide assistance to the families of those killed.
Contact with the An-26 was lost at around 6:00 p.m. Moscow time on March 31, while the aircraft was on a scheduled flight over annexed Crimea. Overnight on March 31–April 1, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that a search-and-rescue team had located the crash site.
The Defense Ministry cited a technical malfunction as the preliminary cause of the disaster and said the aircraft had not been struck by any external force. The Russian state news agency TASS reported that the An-26 had struck a cliff. Russia’s federal investigating authority opened a criminal case on charges of violating flight rules or preparation for flight.
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