Investigators Consider Pilot Error, Weather for Crash

The Antonov An-26 with the same board number #RA-26085 as the missed plane is parked between two other Antonov An-26 planes at Airport Elizovo outside Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, on Nov. 17, 2020. AP Photo/Marina Lystseva

A plane carrying 28 people crashed on Tuesday, apparently as it came in for a landing in bad weather in Russia’s Far East, and everyone aboard was feared dead.

Wreckage from the An-26 was found on a coastal cliffside and in the sea near the airport in the town of Palana, according to officials.

The plane was on approach for a landing in fog and clouds when it missed a scheduled communication and disappeared from radar, officials from the Kamchatka region said.

Wreckage of a missing Antonov An-26 missing plane found near its destination airport outside the town of Palana, in Russia's Far East, in a photo released on July 7, 2021. Russia Emergency Situations Ministry press service via AP

Daria Nemtsova, Senior Assistant to Head of Transport Investigative Committee in Far Eastern region, said investigators were considering piloting error, unfavourable weather conditions or a technical failure of the plane as possible causes of the incident.

The plane crashed into a cliff which wasn’t supposed to be in its landing trajectory, according to Sergei Gorb, deputy director of the company that owns the aircraft, Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise.

The plane was in operation since 1982, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

According to Russian media reports, none of the six crew members or 22 passengers on board survived.