As a result of the crash of the An-26 military transport plane in the Crimea, soldiers of the Northern Fleet were also killed. This was announced by the Governor of the Murmansk Region, Andrei Chibis.
It was not determined exactly how many Northern Fleet soldiers were killed in the incident. There were seven crew members and 22 passengers on board, none of whom survived.
The governor promised to provide assistance to the families of the victims.
Contact with the An-26 was lost around 18:00 Moscow time on March 31, when it was making a scheduled flight over the annexed Crimea. On the night of April 1, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that a search and rescue team had discovered the plane crash site.
The Ministry of Defense identified the initial cause of the disaster as a technical malfunction. TASS wrote that the An-26 crashed into a rock. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on charges of violating aviation rules or preparing for them. The Ministry of Defense said: “There was no harmful effect on the aircraft.”