29 people die when a Russian military plane crashes in occupied Crimea.

 

The An-26 is a Soviet-era aircraft designed primarily for military use (file photo) 

29 people are killed in a Russian military plane crash in occupied Crimea, according to the Russian defense ministry. The plane was carrying Russian troops and crashed into the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. The ministry said the An-26 plane lost contact with authorities during a "routine flight," and wreckage was found on Tuesday. It blamed a "technical failure" and reported no external damage to the aircraft, implying that missiles, drones or birds are not suspected of causing the crash.

 As it flew over the Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, it carried 23 passengers and seven crew members. Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed the crash and said it had opened an inquiry into a flight safety violation.

 According to the news agency Tass, the plane lost communication on Tuesday around 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT), and the wreckage was found after a search and rescue effort. Ukraine has not commented on the crash.

 The An-26 is a Soviet-era aircraft mainly used in a military capacity to transport heavy cargo and smaller numbers of passengers over a short-to-medium distance.  Antonov, a Ukrainian aerospace company, manufactures it.

READ MORE: Huge fires at Russian oil facilities following Ukraine strikes, satellite images show

Since the late 1960s, the planes have been in use, and several of them have resulted in fatal accidents. When a Ukrainian An-26 crashed in Kharkiv in 2020, 26 people were killed, most of them cadets. In the following year, a crash in the Russian Far East claimed the lives of 28 people, and in 2022, a crash in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine claimed the life of one person. Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces has been ongoing in Crimea since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion four years ago.

 The peninsula, which borders the partially Russian-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine, has been the primary target of Ukrainian strikes. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has repeatedly demanded that Russia leave Crimea as part of a ceasefire. A peace plan backed by the US called for Kyiv to give up control of Crimea in November.

Source: BBC