Russian military plane crashes in Crimea after going off radar, 29 killed

A Russian Antonov-26 military plane, that went missing on Mar 31, crashed while flying over the Crimean peninsula, the TASS news agency reported on Wednesday (Apr 1). TASS quoted Russia's defence ministry and confirmed the incident, adding that 29 people, including the crew have been killed. The search and rescue team has located the crash site. No signs of external impact were found on the aircraft’s wreckage. The news report stated that technical failure is likely the cause of the crash. However, nothing has been confirmed by authorities as of now.

"On 31 March at around 18:00 Moscow time, contact was lost with the An-26 military transport aircraft whilst it was on a scheduled flight over the Crimean Peninsula," the defence ministry said. "The search and rescue team has located the crash site of the An-26 aircraft. According to reports from the scene, the six crew members and 23 passengers on board were killed," the ministry added.

(More to follow)