Russian military plane crashes over Crimea, killing 29 people

MOSCOW

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that one of its military planes crashed over the Crimean Peninsula, killing 29 people.

The ministry said in a statement that there were 23 passengers and six crew members on board.

"During a scheduled flight over the Crimean peninsula on March 31 at around 6:00 PM Moscow time (1500GMT), communication with the An-26 military transport aircraft was lost," it said.

A search and rescue team located the crash site of the An-26 aircraft, and there were no survivors, it added.

A commission from the ministry is working at the crash site. No evidence of external impact on the aircraft has been found, and the preliminary cause of the incident is a technical malfunction, the ministry noted.