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News > World

Russian Cargo Plane Crashes in Syria Killing All 39 on Board

  • A Russian military transport plane An-26 is seen of the unpaved runway of the Shagol airfield in Chelyabinsk region.

    A Russian military transport plane An-26 is seen of the unpaved runway of the Shagol airfield in Chelyabinsk region. | Photo: Reuters

Published 6 March 2018
Opinion

Russian Defence Ministry said initial information suggests the crash may have been caused by a technical fault.

A Russian military transport plane crashed in Syria Tuesday, killing all 39 people on board, Russian news agencies quoted the defense ministry as saying.

The defense ministry was cited as saying that the plane, a Soviet-designed An-26, crashed at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Latakia Province and that initial information suggested the incident may have been caused by a technical fault.

"According to the latest updates, the An-26 transport aircraft, which crashed while landing at Hmeymim airbase, was carrying 33 passengers and six crew. All of them were members of the Russian Armed Forces," Interfax news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying.

"The crew and the passengers were killed."

Originally, Russian news agencies cited the defense ministry as saying that 32 passengers and crew were killed in the crash, but this was later revised.

Russian state TV cited military officials as saying the aircraft had not been brought down by enemy fire. It said the crash happened as the plane came into land at Hmeymim, and that it came down around 500 meters short of the runway.

Putin, on an election campaign stop in the Ural mountains, was briefed on the crash via telephone by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and expressed his condolences to the relatives and colleagues of those killed, the Kremlin said.

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