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Operation of An-28 planes suspended in Kamchatka over accident

The investigation is considering three versions of the accident cause

 PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, September 13 (Itar-Tass) —The Russian Federal Agency for Transport Supervision (Rosstransnadzor) has made a decision to suspend from September 12 flights of the An-28 planes belonging to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airline in connection with the Wednesday An-28 air crash in Kamchatka. The restrictions will be in effect “until priority measures are taken to reduce the risk factors and establish the causes of the disaster of the AN-28 RA-28715 plane,” the RF Ministry of Transport reported on its website.

The An-28 plane owned by Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airline on September 12 was performing a flight on the route from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana. There were 14 people on board, including two pilots and 12 passengers, among which there were two children. The aircraft collided with Mount Pyatibratka, 10 kilometres short of the destination. Ten people, including pilots and one child, were killed.

Four passengers - two men, a woman and a 13-year old boy - with severe and very severe injuries were taken to the Koryak district hospital in Palana. They were later transferred to a hospital in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Representatives of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) came to the peninsular on Thursday to investigate the causes of the accident. The Kamchatka branch of the Far Eastern District Air Transport Department told Itar-Tass that head of Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) Alexander Neradko was also to arrive here to participate in the investigation actions.

Within the framework of the investigation actions within the criminal case filed over the accident, the investigating authorities have seized records of the air traffic controllers’ radio communication with the crew of the crashed plane, flight documents and samples of fuel from the plane.

There has been no information so far about the finding of the An-28 flight recorders, the fixed parameters of the flight and the crew speech are unavailable yet.

The investigation is considering three versions of the accident cause – a technical malfunction, the crew’s erroneous actions and the bad weather conditions.