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‘Black boxes’ of crashed Ukrainian plane recovered

The data from the flight recorders would be decoded very soon, Kharkov Regional Governor Alexei Kucher said

KIEV, September 26. /TASS/. The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were recovered from under the debris of the An-26 military-transport plane, which crashed in the Ukrainian Kharkov Region on Friday, during the search and rescue operation, Kharkov Regional Governor Alexei Kucher said on Saturday.

"As far as I know, the flight recorders have been seized but they are not examined yet. I know for sure that about 45 seconds or a minute before the crash, the pilot was talking with the flight controller and they were discussing a possibility of the landing," Ukrinform news agency said citing the governor.

Kucher hoped that the data from the flight recorders would be decoded very soon.

The Kharkov regional governor dismissed media reports that the only survivor in the crash, a cadet from the air school, could survive as he had jumped off the plane. The man said that he was inside the crashed aircraft. According to Kucher, he heard this from the cadet when visiting him in hospital.

"[Ukrainian] President [Vladimir Zelensky] and I visited the military hospital and talked with the guy who is the only survivor," Alexei Kucher said. "In fact, he is in satisfactory physical condition. He said that it was happening like in a computer game. He does not remember everything. He passed out for a while and when he came round, he saw his friend on fire and he helped to put the blaze out on that guy who was also in hospital yesterday, but regrettably, passed away today."

On September 25, an An-26 military transport plane crashed in the Chuguyev district of northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkov region during a landing approach. A total of 27 people were onboard the plane. Apart from the crew, the plane had cadets of the Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University on board, and was performing a training flight. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said that 25 people were killed in the crash and two more were rushed to hospital in critical condition. Later, one of them died. Thus, the crash death toll climbed to 26.