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Ukraine: military personnel survived plane crash with 26 dead

2020-09-26T16:15:12.973Z


A man only suffered a concussion when a military plane crashed in Ukraine - apparently because he jumped from the plane. It is still unclear how the catastrophe with 26 deaths came about.


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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj (second from right) visited the surviving 20-year-old military man

Photo: AP

One of the 27 inmates survived a military plane crash in eastern Ukraine.

According to the treating hospital, the military member suffered a concussion and was not in mortal danger.

A second survivor of the crash had previously succumbed to his injuries, according to the Ministry of Health.

According to the civil defense in Kiev, the two jumped out of the machine when it was approaching for landing 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 college on board.

The cadets were therefore not involved in controlling the machine.

Pilot reported engine failure

Military experts examined the accident site to clarify the exact cause of the crash, said Defense Minister Andrej Taran.

The crash site is near the Russian border, but not in the war zone in eastern Ukraine.

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The crash site in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine

Photo: Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy / imago images / Ukrinform

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the machine crashed while approaching the runway in Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region.

According to the SBU security service, the pilot reported an engine failure a few minutes beforehand.

Defense Minister Taran said a wing likely scratched the ground and the Antonov caught fire.

Immediately after the crash, a wreck burning in the dark could be seen in pictures on social networks.

A little later there were videos of the deleted rubble, which was widely scattered in an uninhabited area.

Some people were burned in the plane wreck, so they were difficult to identify, it said.

Several crashes in the past few years

The crash is a severe blow to the Ukrainian military.

The armed forces are fighting against pro-Russian separatists in the crisis region, around 250 kilometers from the crash site.

According to UN estimates, more than 13,000 people have died since 2014.

Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists accuse each other of doing too little to implement a peace plan.

"Ukraine has lost 26 of its sons," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj on Facebook, proclaiming a national day of mourning.

He visited the crash site on Saturday and asked for an "objective" investigation into the cause of the crash.

In the past few years, Ukrainian military aircraft had crashed several times during training flights.

According to Defense Minister Taran, the present machine was built in 1977, but was in good condition.

A number of foreign state and government officials expressed their condolences to Ukraine, including Poland's President Andrzej Duda, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell.

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nis / afp / dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2020-09-26

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