A Russian military transport aircraft crashed into a cliff in Crimea on Tuesday evening, killing all 29 people on board, according to the country’s defense ministry.
The incident occurred around 6:00 p.m. local time during a scheduled flight over the peninsula, which lies along the Black Sea and features steep mountainous terrain.
Russia’s defense ministry said communication with the Antonov An-26 aircraft was suddenly lost while it was flying on a planned route. The aircraft was flying over Crimea, a region annexed by Russia in 2014, when it disappeared from radar.
State news agency Tass reported that search and rescue teams were quickly dispatched to locate the missing plane. The effort led to the discovery of the crash site in a mountainous area, where the aircraft had collided with a cliff.
“The defense ministry reported that a search team found the site of the catastrophe,” Tass reported. “According to a report from the site, six crew members and 23 passengers on board were killed.”
No survivors reported at crash site
Officials confirmed that all individuals on board the aircraft died in the crash. While the ministry did not initially specify the total number of occupants, it confirmed the fatalities of six crew members and 23 passengers. No survivors have been reported.
The Antonov An-26 is a light military transport aircraft that has been widely used for decades. It is capable of carrying cargo or up to about 40 passengers across short and medium distances. The aircraft involved in the crash was part of routine military operations at the time of the incident.
Early findings point to technical failure
Initial findings from Russia’s defense ministry suggest that the crash was not caused by external interference. Officials ruled out the possibility of a missile strike, drone involvement, or bird collision.
“There was no impact on the aircraft,” Tass quoted the ministry as saying, suggesting that missiles, drones, or birds were not involved.
“The preliminary cause of the crash is a technical malfunction. A commission from the military is working at the site,” it said.
Investigators are now examining the wreckage to determine the exact nature of the malfunction. Military commissions typically analyze flight data, maintenance records, and debris patterns to establish a clear cause.
Aircraft type has a long but troubled record
The Antonov An-26 has been in service since the late 1960s and remains a key part of military and civilian transport fleets in several countries. Despite its long operational history, the aircraft model has been linked to multiple fatal accidents in recent years.
In 2022, a Ukrainian An-26 crashed during a technical flight in the Zaporizhzhia region, killing one person. Two years earlier, another An-26 went down during a training exercise in northeastern Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of 26 of the 27 people on board.
Outside Eastern Europe, similar incidents have also been recorded. In 2020, an An-26 crash in South Sudan killed eight people, including five Russian nationals. In 2017, another aircraft of the same model crashed during landing in the Ivory Coast, killing four out of 10 people on board.