On November 3, near the village of Pivovarich, Irkutsk region, a cargo plane An-12 was wrecked. The aircraft belonged to the Belarusian airline “Grodno”. According to the Governor of the region, Igor Kobzev, “all nine people on board were dead”.
The news agency TASS reports that among the victims were five crew members and four passengers accompanying the cargo. Rescuers brought the remains of six people for DNA testing.
At 2:45 PM, An-12 changed the altitude from two hundred thirty meters to one hundred twenty meters in three seconds and then disappeared from the radar. As it is specified, before that the crew reported the necessity to make another lap.The aircraft caught fire as a result of the crash. The spilled fuel caused a 300 square meter fire. A spokesperson for Irkutsk Airport Klim Kulikov reports that due to the wet snow, visibility was severely limited during the landing, but the consequence does not rule out possible technical malfunctions and piloting error.
A criminal case was opened in connection with the crash “for violation of safety and exploitation rules”. According to the Russian Federation Criminal Investigation Department, upon the instruction of Alexander Bastrykin, the chairman of the committee, forensic experts were sent to the crash area. The Inter-State Aviation Committee has formed a commission to investigate the crash, with the An-12 type aircraft not to fly until its completion. According to TASS, so far only one of the black boxes has been found at the crash site, the search for the second recorder is still ongoing.
The crashed plane “got on the wing” in 1968. According to the representative of the “Grodno” airline, “the crew of the aircraft had extensive experience in flying, especially the commander”.
