Ukraine: 26 dead in the crash of a military plane, the trail of an engine failure mentioned
Rescuers inspect the wreckage of the Ukrainian military plane Antonov An-26 after it crashed outside the city of Chuhuiv, Ukraine, September 25, 2020. REUTERS / Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
26 people died in the crash of a military transport plane in Ukraine on Friday.
The Ukrainian president went to the only survivor of the accident and declared this Saturday as a day of national mourning.
Publicity
Read more
“
Ukraine
has lost 26 of its sons,
” Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
said on Facebook, declaring
a day of national mourning on Saturday.
He also visited the bedside of the lone survivor of the
crash, which took place on Friday,
of a military plane during a training flight.
26 people perished, according to the authorities' latest report.
A second student, who had also survived the disaster in an "
extremely serious
" condition, then died in hospital this Saturday morning, according to the Minister of Health.
This Antonov An-26 military transport plane crashed on landing Friday evening two kilometers from the Chugouïv military airport, about thirty kilometers southeast of Kharkiv.
In total, the plane was carrying 27 people, seven crew members and 20 students of the Kharkiv National Aviation University.
Most of the students on board were between 19 and 22 years old.
An open investigation
An investigation is underway to determine the causes of the accident.
According to initial information, the commander of the crew who flew the aircraft reported a failure of one of the engines seven minutes before the crash and asked for an emergency landing, the security services said in a statement. Ukrainian (SBU).
Defense Minister Andrï Taran affirmed that "
the plane has in all likelihood touched down with its wing
", according to a statement from his ministry.
He also indicated that, according to preliminary information, one of the sensors of the left engine had been defective, specifying that the final results would be presented after the analysis of the black boxes of the device.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky
On the same subject
Geopolitics the debate
Will defense pay the price for the crisis?
The debate of the day
How far will Russia go to defend its area of influence?
Clashes resumed in eastern Ukraine after 42 days of truce