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Ground icing of wing and stabilizer may have caused ATR-72 crash

An ATR-72-200 plane operated by UTair crashed at 07:50 local time (05:50 Moscow time) on Monday
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

TYUMEN, April 4 (Itar-Tass) — Ground icing of plane’s wing and stabilizer before takeoff is seen as the main cause behind the crash of an ATR-72 passenger plane outside Tyumen on Monday, Tyumen Region’s Governor Vladimir Yakushev told a news conference on Wednesday after a session of the emergency headquarters looking into the crash.

According to the governor, “expert examination rules out the version of technical malfunction of the plane. All systems of the plane operated in a routine mode till the moment of the crash,” Yakushev noted. No alcohol was found in the blood of the crew, he added.

“At the moment specialists from the Russian Investigation Committee try to restore minute-by-minute the flight preparations of the ill-fated plane. Witnesses are interviewed and specialists examine video recording,” the governor said.

An ATR-72-200 plane operated by UTair crashed at 07:50 local time (05:50 Moscow time) on Monday shortly after it took off from Tyumen’s Roshchino Airport. Thirty-one people were killed and 12 were gravely injured in the crash.

An investigation continues. All the work at the site of the crash will be finished on Wednesday. Plane debris will be transported to the airport. A delegation of French manufacturers of the plane has arrived in Tyumen. Specialists of the Interstate Aviation Committee are decoding the flight recorders.