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One of the 27 prisoners survived a military plane crash in eastern Ukraine. According to the treating hospital, the soldier suffered a concussion and was not in danger of death.
A second survivor of the accident had previously succumbed to his injuries, according to the Health Ministry. According to civil defense in Kiev, the two jumped out of the machine as it approached to land and then crashed.
The Antonov An-26 transport plane crashed on Friday during a training flight. According to the Ukrainian authorities, there were seven crew members and 20 students from an Air Force university on board. Therefore, the cadets did not participate in the control of the machine.
Pilot reported engine failure
Military experts examined the crash site to clarify the exact cause of the crash, Defense Minister Andrej Taran said. The crash site is near the Russian border, but not in the war zone in eastern Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the machine crashed while approaching the airstrip at Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region. According to the SBU safety service, the pilot reported an engine failure a few minutes earlier. Defense Minister Taran said a wing likely scraped the ground and the Antonov caught fire.
Immediately after the accident, a sinister could be seen burning in the dark in the images of social networks. A little later videos of the debris removed appeared, which was widely scattered in an uninhabited area. Some people were burned in the plane crash, making them difficult to identify, he said.
Various accidents in recent years
The accident is a severe blow to the Ukrainian army. The armed forces are fighting pro-Russian separatists in the crisis region, some 250 kilometers from the crash site. According to UN estimates, more than 13,000 people have died since 2014. Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists accuse each other of doing little to implement a peace plan.
“Ukraine has lost 26 of its children,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj said on Facebook, proclaiming a national day of mourning. He visited the crash site on Saturday and called for an “objective” investigation into the cause of the accident.
In recent years there have been several accidents of Ukrainian military aircraft during training flights. According to Defense Minister Taran, the current machine was built in 1977, but it was in good condition.
Several officials from foreign governments and states expressed their condolences to Ukraine, including Polish President Andrzej Duda, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell.
