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Relatives identify body of commander of An-2 plane crashed in Kemerovo region

The identification procedure for the others is now being organized

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 3. /TASS/. The relatives have identified the body of the commander of the Antonov An-2 plane that crashed in the Kemerovo region on Sunday. The relatives of the other members of the crashed plane crew will be transported to the region soon, the West Siberian transport investigation department of the Russian Investigative Committee told TASS on Wednesday.

"The crew commander's body has been identified by the relatives. The identification procedure for the others is now being organized, the question of their relatives’ transportation is being settled," the source said.

The investigators have examined the plane wreckage, and the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) exerts will soon arrive at the crash site. Investigators have also taken the plane’s fuel samples. Establishing the causes of the crash is difficult because the ill-fated An-2 had no flight recorder.

"At the moment, none of the previously voiced versions of the crash (low-quality fuel, equipment failure, piloting error, adverse weather conditions) is excluded. And no version is considered as a priority," the source said.

On Sunday, radio contact was lost with the An-2 plane with three people on board after takeoff from Berdsk (Novosibirsk region) to Krasnoyarsk. The next day, rescuers have found the plane in the mountains in the Kemerovo region. Rescue workers spotted the debris of the plane that went missing in the Kemerovo region on Sunday.

"There were no survivors. The plane burned down. The death of the pilot and two other people on board is an established fact," the acting chief of the Siberian aviation search and rescue center, Vladimir Plotnikov, told TASS. According to Plotnikov, a team of rescue workers brought to the crash scene by helicopter prepared a site suitable for the helicopter to land to deliver investigators and prosecutors and take away the victims’ bodies.

According to the Siberian regional center of the Emergencies Ministry, the plane crashed 40 kilometers east of the village of Krapivinsky. Rugged terrain left no chance for the single-engine biplane to make a safe landing.

Earlier reports said radio contact with the plane was lost after it left Berdsk for Krasnoyarsk. The pilot’s last verbal exchange with the air traffic controller was when the plane was flying over the Kemerovo Region. The wreckage was spotted from the air on Monday morning.