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Ukraine: 22 dead in the crash of a military plane in the east of the country

 


Most of the victims were military school students in their twenties. The government will create a government commission "to elucidate the circumstances and causes" of the disaster.

At least 22 people, mostly military school students in their twenties, were killed and two others seriously injured in a military plane crash Friday night near Kharkov in the east from Ukraine. An AFP journalist saw the partially destroyed Antonov An-26 transport plane near a road surrounded by police.

Images released by authorities on social media showed the device in flames. In photos released by the emergency services, firefighters spray its debris. Two people were injured and three others are missing, according to the latest report from the state service for emergency situations.

A training flight

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, ordered the "urgent establishment of a government commission to elucidate the circumstances and causes" of the disaster. The general prosecutor's office announced in a statement that it had opened an investigation for "violation of the flight rules". This military transport plane crashed on landing at around 8:50 p.m. local time (7:50 p.m. in Paris) two kilometers from the Chougouïv military airport, according to the State Service for Emergency Situations.

"According to preliminary information, it was a training flight," the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement. Several military planes have crashed in Ukraine during training flights in recent years. The Antonov An-26 is a light transport aircraft designed in Ukraine during Soviet times. 24 meters long, it can fly at a cruising speed of 440 km / h.