"At the second attempt to land the plane": what is known about the An-12 crash in the Irkutsk region

On Wednesday, November 3, an An-12BK cargo plane belonging to the Belarusian Grodno airline crashed in the Irkutsk region.

As a result of the emergency, all seven crew members were killed.

This information was confirmed by the governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, who arrived at the scene of the tragedy.

“Unfortunately, the pilot was unable to land the ship the first time due to difficult weather conditions.

During the second attempt to land the ship, the plane crashed 7 km from the airport.

Unfortunately, all crew members were killed.

These are citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, ”Kobzev said.

After the accident, a fire broke out at the crash site.

According to the governor, the fire was quickly eliminated.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case into the crash.

The proceedings are underway under the article on violation of traffic safety rules and the operation of air transport, resulting in the death of two or more persons by negligence (part 3 of article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the UK, the plane crashed a few kilometers from Irkutsk near the village of Pivovarikha.

The aircraft carried out a cargo flight along the Keperveem (Chukotka) - Yakutsk - Irkutsk route.

Among the versions of the causes of the crash, piloting error, weather conditions and technical malfunction of the An-12 are considered.

On behalf of the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, criminologists from the central office of the department were sent to the scene.

In turn, the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor's Office initiated a flight safety check.

In addition, the Interstate Aviation Committee formed a commission to investigate the incident.

According to the Ministry of Transport of Belarus, the accident occurred against the background of difficult weather conditions - snow and rain and freezing rain.

“The aircraft was operated by an experienced crew, which consisted of seven people: two citizens of the Russian Federation, two from Ukraine and three from the Republic of Belarus,” the message says.

The ministry also noted that the commander of the shipwrecked had more than 12 thousand hours of total flight time, including more than 7 thousand hours on the An-12.

The Ministry of Transport clarified that there was no cargo on board at the time of the crash.

The Belarusian Investigative Committee announced that it was conducting an inspection on the fact of the plane crash.

As noted in the department, the circumstances of the accident are established in cooperation with colleagues from the Russian Federation.

In addition, the director of the Belarusian aviation department, Artyom Sikorsky, said that the commercial operation of An-12 aircraft was suspended in the country until the investigation of the accident near Irkutsk was completed.

"We saw a fire and a fire truck"

It is known that the plane was refueling in Yakutsk.

Immediately after the crash, there was a fuel spill and its subsequent fire on an area of ​​about 300 square meters.

meters.

A resident of the village of Pivovarikha, Oleg Kochanovsky, who witnessed the emergency, told RT about the incident.

According to him, local residents drew attention to the fire in the area where the plane crashed.

“We drove to the store, a blizzard started, and along the road we saw a fire and a fire engine.

Realized that something had happened.

Then, in the chat of the village, everyone began to write that the An-12 plane had fallen.

It is not far from the airport, not far from residential buildings, not far from the road along which cars pass every minute, ”he said.

Accident of An-26 in Khabarovsk

A month and a half ago, on September 22, an An-26 aircraft disappeared from the radar while flying over the radio equipment of the Khabarovsk airfield.

The next day, its wreckage was discovered.

The emergency services said that the crew did not report any malfunctions on board, and that the takeoff took place as usual.

Piloting error and difficult weather conditions are considered as possible causes of the accident.

The crash site was found by helicopter.

The wreckage was in the area of ​​Khrebtovaya Mountain, whose height is more than 900 m. The ship crashed in a hard-to-reach area, in this regard, a ground group of forces was sent to the scene of the accident, which found the bodies of the crew members, none of them survived the crash.