PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, October 15 (Itar-Tass) —— Ethyl alcohol has been detected in the blood of the pilots from the An-28 plane that crashed in Kamchatka on September 12, a source at the press service of the Far Eastern regional transport investigation department told Itar-Tass on Monday.
According to the investigators' information, the alcohol content level in the captain's blood corresponded to a light degree of alcohol intoxication, and the second pilot was in a medium-degree drunken state. The investigators have yet to establish whether it caused the accident.
The plane with 14 people aboard, including the two crew members, crashed into Pyatibratka Hill, 10 km away from the settlement of Palana. Only four of the passengers, including a 13-year-old boy, survived. One of the survivors is already discharged from Palana's hospital. The rest patients undergo treatment in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and as doctors say, they are recovering.
The Inter-State Aviation Committee said the engines and the systems of the plane worked without malfunction until the moment when the plane touched the tops of trees.
When the An-28 touched the trees, the two engines stopped working. The plane flew for about eight seconds after that and crashed into the ground. The commission conducts an investigation to establish what stopped the work of the engines.
A criminal case is opened over the crash.