A Russian military transport plane crashes in Crimea, killing 29 people

The An-26 military transport plane was making a scheduled flight over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia entered illegally It was annexed from Ukraine The reports said in 2014. The army lost contact with the plane around 6pm on Tuesday.

Plane crash in far east Russia leaves 48 dead

An An-26 is photographed at a base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on March 9, 2014. On Tuesday, March 31, 2026, a Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed in the annexed Crimea, killing all 29 people on board. (AP Photo/Na Son Nguyen, File)

Sources at the scene told TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies that the Soviet-designed military transport plane crashed into a slope.

The Russian Investigative Committee said that seven crew members and 23 passengers were on board the plane. It was not immediately clear from official statements whether one of the crew members had survived.

Trump says Zelensky’s “inflammatory” statement on Crimea prolongs the war with Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin is photographed during a meeting on March 30, 2026. Since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian military aircraft accidents have been repeated. (Alexander Kazakov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The Investigative Committee said it had launched a criminal investigation regarding flight rules, and was conducting a search in a mountainous forest area in the Bakhchisarai region.

The Interfax news agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying that a technical failure may have caused the plane to crash, and that there was no “harmful interference” with the plane.

Incidents involving Russian military aircraft These events have been repeated since the Kremlin sent its forces into Ukraine.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Russian officials inspect a building after a Su-34 military bomber crashed into a residential area in Yeysk, Russia, in October 2022, killing 15 people. A military plane carrying crew and passengers crashed into a cliff in the annexed Crimean peninsula on March 31, 2026, according to Russian officials. (Arkady Budnitsky/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In December, an An-22 military transport plane crashed in Russia’s Ivanovo region, killing its seven crew. In October, a MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in the Lipetsk region, while a Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in the Siberian region of Irkutsk in April 2025.

In October 2022, A.J The Su-34 bomber crashed in a residential area The Russian city of Yeysk, located on the Sea of ​​Azov, which led to the outbreak of a massive fire and killed 15 people.