Several people were killed and over a dozen injured after a twin-engine Let L-410 aircraft made an emergency landing in Russia’s Kemerovo Oblast in southwestern Siberia. A total of 19 people were on board the plane.
The twin-jet aircraft, belonging to a local chapter of the DOSAAF paramilitary sport group, crash-landed on Saturday.
The plane suffered an engine failure shortly after takeoff, with the pilots attempting to land it. The aircraft, however, hit the ground with its wing and overturned, chief of Kemerovo DOSAAF, Viktor Shemohanov, told TASS.
“According to my information, two crew members and seven parachutists were killed, nine people in total. There were 17 parachutists and two crew members on board,” Shemohanov stated.
It remains unclear what caused the fatal engine failure as the plane was in good technical condition and had performed its fourth flight already that day, Shemohanov said.
Regional Governor Sergey Tsivilev put the death toll at a lower figure, stating that the crash had killed four people and left 15 injured, with four of them sustaining critical injuries.
According to Russian media reports, businessman and ruble billionaire Timur Frank, co-owner of one of Kemerovo’s large coal mines, was among the parachutists. He survived the crash and was hospitalized in a critical condition. A local MP, Alexandr Friling, was also on board and survived the accident with a fractured ankle.
Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you.