Kiev, Sep 26 (UNI) At least 25 people were killed in the crash of the An-26 military plane in the Kharkiv region in Ukraine, government officials said on Friday.
There were military pilots and cadets of the Kozhedub Air Force Institute on the plane. At the time of incident, 27 people, including seven crew members, were on the board. The mishap occurred at the time of the landing.
"As for the moment, according to preliminary information, 25 people have died, two injured people in critical condition have been admitted to medical facilities, the search for others is underway," the office of the country's prosecutor general said in a statement.
According to preliminary information, the left engine of the An-26 plane, which crashed in Ukraine, failed before the disaster, Sputnik quoted Kharkiv Region Governor Oleksiy Kucher as saying.
"There was a notification from the pilot that the left engine had failed, as I understand it," Kucher said. He noted that this should not be a critical situation for an experienced pilot.
"What happened next is also unclear, it will be established by the investigation," the governor added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would visit the site on Saturday and a commission was being created to investigate the circumstances that caused the mishap.
"We are urgently creating a commission to investigate all the circumstances and causes of the tragedy. I gave the relevant instructions to the prime minister. A search team is already working on the spot. Tomorrow I will be in the Kharkiv Region," Mr Zelenskyy said.
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