Senior Russian commander killed in March air crash

Official statement

Andrei Chibis, governor of the northern Murmansk region where the Northern Fleet is based, said that Alexander Otroshchenko, commander of the Mixed Air Force Corps of the Northern Fleet, died in the crash.

Crash details and cause

The An-26 military transport aircraft went down after striking a cliff in Crimea on March 31. Russia’s Defence Ministry said shortly after the incident that a technical malfunction was the preliminary cause.

Aircraft background

The An-26 has been in service since the late 1960s and has also been used by airlines for cargo transport. However, the aircraft model has been involved in several fatal accidents over the past decade.

Previous incidents

In 2022, a Ukrainian An-26 crashed during a flight in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, killing one person. In 2020, another An-26 crashed during a training flight in northeastern Ukraine, leaving only one survivor among the 27 people on board.

Also in 2020, eight people, including five Russians, were killed when an An-26 crashed in South Sudan. In 2017, four of the 10 people on board were killed when an An-26 crashed while landing in Ivory Coast, West Africa.