Initial reports suggest there were no survivors after the Ilyushin Il-76 military cargo plane crashed in Russia's Ivanovo region. Russia said one of its Il-76 military cargo planes crashed shortly after takeoff from an airfield northeast of Moscow on Tuesday. "An Il-76 military transport aviation plane crashed in the Ivanovo region while taking off to perform a scheduled flight. On board were eight crew members and seven passengers," the defense ministry said. It added an engine fire during takeoff was the likely cause of the crash in the the Ivanovo region, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Moscow. According to online reports, there were no survivors. Multiple unverified videos and photographs of a falling aircraft circulated on Russian social networks. Air traffic increased due to war in Ukraine  The Defense Ministry reported dozens of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia when the crash occurred. Ukrainian drones hit some targets deep inside Russia, including Moscow.  Russia has significantly increased the transport of troops and military equipment by air and land across its territory during its two-year war in Ukraine. In January, Russia said Ukraine had downed an Il-76 in the Belgorod region near the countries' shared border.  The four-engine Il-76 is a heavy-lift transport plane that has been in service with the Soviet and then Russian air forces since the 1970s.  

A Russian military transport plane has crashed with dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war on board, according to the Defense Ministry. A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane crashed on Wednesday in Russia's Belgorod region, the state-run RIA news agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying.   "On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange, six crew members and three escorts," RIA quoted the Defense Ministry as saying.   The transport plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to the AFP news agency.  The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said everyone onboard the military transport plane had died in the crash. The Kremlin said it would "look into" the incident.  The Il-76 military transport aircraft is designed to carry troops, cargo and military equipment. It typically has a five-person crew and can carry up to 90 passengers.

A government report has attributed the plane crash involving a Yeti Airlines aircraft near Pokhara International Airport eight months ago to a combination of technical issues and human error. However, sources familiar with the situation argue that inadequate runway infrastructure, a lack of essential equipment at the airport, and delayed pilot instructions also played significant roles in the accident. The commission of inquiry tasked with investigating the crash submitted its findings to Sudan Kirati, the Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation. According to Buddhisagar Lamichhane, the commission’s member secretary, the final report has been submitted to the minister and will be published in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines, which stipulate that the report should be made public 60 days after receiving input from relevant countries. The report reportedly places some blame on the co-pilot for the accident. In the wake of the incident, a five-member accident investigation commission was established by the government to examine the circumstances. Their preliminary report previously suggested that human error on the part of the crew was responsible for the crash, which claimed the lives of all 72 individuals on board. An earlier report from the Office of the Auditor General had highlighted issues related to negligence in the construction of physical structures at the airport. Aviation experts had cited these issues as contributing factors to the accident. The report identified challenges related to the airport’s proximity to rivers, waste disposal sites, the presence of wildlife, and a lack of adequate space for large aircraft landings. Furthermore, the Auditor General raised concerns about runway construction. According to the report, a 30-meter cut was needed on the east side of the runway at the height of 1.5 km. The gravel material excavated from this height reduction was utilized in the runway’s construction, eliminating the need to transport material from a distance. The Auditor General has recommended a thorough analysis of the impact of this decision. The report from the Auditor General also raised concerns about contractual compliance during construction, runway construction errors, increased costs borne by the state, and additional expenses attributed to consultancy services. The construction of Pokhara International Airport commenced in August 2016 through an agreement with the Chinese state-owned contractor CAMCE, with a total budget of $244 million, including value-added tax. By the end of the previous year, $209 million had been disbursed to the construction company. While the contract stated that the builders were responsible for taxes, fees, and charges, both inside and outside Nepal, the Auditor General’s report suggested that the project was included in the master list and granted exemptions, despite no such provisions in the contract. The Auditor General also raised questions regarding the runway’s construction, particularly the removal of 30 meters of the chinedanda’s height on the east side of the runway. The gravel resulting from this excavation was utilized in constructing the runway itself, eliminating the need to transport materials from a distance. The report called for an analysis of the impact of this approach. The airport’s construction was funded by a loan of 1.37 billion Chinese yuan from China’s Exim Bank, with a 25 percent interest waiver. The remaining amount carried a 2 percent interest rate, considered relatively high compared to loans from international donor agencies. The loan has a grace period of seven years and a repayment term of 20 years. One significant revelation from the investigation was that crucial equipment, such as the Instrument Landing System (ILS), was only installed at the airport after the handover. The ILS, essential for aircraft landings in various conditions, was not operational during the accident involving the Yeti Airlines plane. This key equipment was subsequently put in place after the incident. The ILS, a radio navigation system, aids aircraft in landing safely, even in low visibility and adverse weather conditions. It significantly improves landing precision, allowing aircraft to land with reduced visibility compared to traditional methods. Despite concerns raised about aviation safety rules being violated during the airport’s opening, no action was taken against the responsible parties. Violations included flights operating outside the stipulated hours for visual flight rules (VFR) in disregard of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority regulations, which set daily sunrise and sunset times for VFR flights. Flights were reported to have taken off beyond the specified sunset time, but no penalties were imposed at that time.

A passenger plane carrying 14 people crashed in Brazil's Amazon rainforest on Saturday, killing all on board, according to a local official. What do we know so far?  Amazonas Governor Wilson Lima said the plane had come down in Barcelos in the northern part of Brazil. "I deeply regret the death of the 12 passengers and two crew members who were victims of the plane crash in Barcelos on Saturday," Lima said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Local media reported that the small Embraer PT-SOG aircraft — a twin-engine turboprop — took off from Manaus, which is the biggest city in the Amazon. It was attempting to land in Barcelos during heavy rain when it crashed. According to reports those on board were Brazilian tourists on a fishing trip. Local television network Globo News broadcast visuals of the aircraft lying on a muddy road with the front part covered by foliage. Brazil's air force dispatched a team from Manaus to gather data and secure any evidence that could be used to investigate the circumstances of the crash.

The crash occurred in the village of Chrcynno, which lies around 50 kilometers north of Warsaw. Polish authorities are investigating the cause of the accident. A small plane crashed into a hangar in Poland on Monday, killing five people and injuring at least eight others. The accident occurred in the village of Chrcynno, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the capital Warsaw. Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said four helicopters and 10 ambulances were dispatched to the site of the crash. What do we know about the crash? The crashed plane was a Cessna 208, Polish media reported. Its pilot was among those killed in the accident, as well as four people who were sheltered in the hangar from stormy weather. Those injured were taken to local hospitals in the Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki area. Katarzyna Urbanowska, a spokesperson for local firefighters, said rescuers were still checking the site for additional victims. Polish authorities were investigating the cause of the accident.  

The passenger allegedly disarmed an emergency exit door on a United Airlines flight to Boston before attacking a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon. Authorities in the US state of Massachusetts arrested a man after he tried to open an emergency exit door on his United Airlines flight while the plane was in the air, prosecutors said on Monday. When the 33-year-old suspect began attacking flight attendants, other passengers managed to tackle and help restrain him until the plane landed safely in Boston. "No serious injuries were reported," the airline said in a statement. What is the man accused of? The incident took place on a cross-country flight from Los Angeles to Boston on Sunday, the US Attorney's Office for Massachusetts said in a statement. Less than an hour before the plane was due to land at Boston Logan International Airport, the flight crew were alerted that a side door had been disarmed. A flight attendant inspected the door and found that the locking handle had been moved from the fully locked position, and that lever for the door's emergency slide had been disarmed. The crew then secured both the slide and the door. The flight crew suspected the 33-year-old passenger of tampering with the door, as he had been seen standing near it for a period of time. Crew members alerted the captain that the passenger likely "posed a threat to the aircraft." Prosecutors said that at that point, the suspect got out of his seat and attacked one of the crew with a broken metal spoon, "hitting the flight attendant on the neck area three times." Other passengers then tackled the man and helped crew members restrain him until landing. How has the airline reacted? United Airlines said that the passenger will be barred from any future flights with the carrier. "We have zero tolerance for any type of violence on our flights, and this customer will be banned from flying on United pending an investigation," the airline said. The man has been charged with attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a weapon. Life sentence is possible If he is found guilty, the 33-year-old could face a potential life sentence in prison. Despite the alleged attempt, airplane doors cannot be opened during the flight due to cabin pressure. US sees series of airplane safety incidents In a separate incident on Monday, two United Airlines flights bumped into one another at Boston Logan Airport. While one of the airplanes was being pushed back from its gate, the jet's wing struck the tail of a neighboring United flight. No injuries were reported and all passengers disembarked. Both planes have been taken out of operation for the time being. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it has launched a probe into the incident. It is the latest in a series of safety incidents involving passenger aircraft in the US — and the second involving Boston's international airport. Last week, a JetBlue flight attempting to land at Boston's airport was forced to take evasive measures when a charter jet crossed an intersecting runway.

State-run TV has shown footage of smoke billowing up from the wreckage site following the crash near Pokhara International Airport. Nepal has been plagued by air travel safety issues for years. An aircraft carrying 72 people on board crashed in the city of Pokhara in central Nepal, Yeti Airlines said on Sunday. At least 68 people were killed in the crash, according to officials, but the exact death toll remains unclear. "There are 68 passengers on board and four crew members... Rescue is underway, we don't know right now if there are survivors," a spokesperson for the airline told AFP news agency. Two infants and 10 foreign nationals were among those on board, the airline added. A local official said that rescue workers were already on the scene and that the wreckage was on fire. "Responders have already reached there and trying to douse the fire. All agencies are now focused on first dousing the fire and rescuing the passengers," local official Gurudutta Dhakal said. Hundreds join rescue efforts The plane — a 15-year-old a twin-engine ATR72 according to FlightRadar24 — was headed from Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, to the resort town of Pokhara, popular with tourists, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said. He also urged security forces and the general public to aid with rescue work. Hundreds of rescue workers were seen searching near the wreckage site. State television showed images of black smoke rising from the crash site with people gathered around the wreckage. It also reported that a number of bodies had been found. Nepal's air travel challenges Nepal is notoriously dangerous for air travel for several reasons. The mountainous country, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, hosts some of the trickiest runways with routes heading to remote locations that would challenge the most experienced pilots. The country also lacks advanced weather forecasting infrastructure, made even more complicated by the tendency of the weather to change rapidly, especially up in the mountains. The Himalayan country's air industry is also beset by lagging safety standards and maintenance issues despite a recent boom in air travel. The European Union has banned Nepalese carriers from its air space over safety concerns. Crash sites are also often difficult to get to, as was the case when a plane carrying 22 people crashed into a mountainside at 14,500 feet (4,400 meters) in May last year.

A Precision Air plane plunged into the water due to bad weather, police said. At least 19 people died in the crash and more than 20 have been reportedly taken to a hospital. A Precision Air plane crashed into Lake Victoria killing at least 19 people on Sunday as it approached the northwestern Tanzanian city of Bukoba, police said. Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa gave the new death toll, raising it up from three.   Precision Air said in a statement that 24 people had survived the accident and were taken to hospital.  Two other people hospitalized following the incident were injured in rescue efforts but were not on board the flight, the AFP news agency cited an official as saying. Earlier, local authorities said 26 of those on board the plane were rescued and taken to a hospital. What do we know about the crash? Officials said a total of 43 people were on board the flight — including 39 passengers, two pilots and two cabin crew. The domestic passenger plane had departed from the financial capital Dar es Salaam. It later plunged into Lake Victoria as it was approaching the northwestern city of Bukoba. According to the police, "bad weather" caused the crash as the plane was flying at about 100 meters (328 feet). "When the aircraft was about 100 meters midair, it encountered problems and bad weather. It was raining and the plane plunged into the water,'' regional police commander William Mwampaghale told reporters. Tanzanian state broadcaster Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) reported that Flight PW494 hit the water during storms and heavy rain. The flight was operated by Precision Air, which is Tanzania's largest private carrier. The airline said the aircraft was an ATR 42-500, manufactured by Tolouse-based Franco-Italian company ATR. Local authorities said rescuers "managed to save quite a number of people." How have leaders reacted? Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan sent condolences to "all those affected by the accident" and called for calm.  "I have received with sadness the news of the accident involving Precision Air's plane," she wrote on Twitter, urging for calm amid rescue efforts. Tanzania's prime minister echoed the head of state's statement after arriving at Bukoba airport. "All Tanzanians are with you in mourning the 19 people who lost lives during this accident," Majaliwa said. The African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat also shared his condolences, as did the secretary general of the regional East African Community bloc, Peter Mathuki. "Our hearts and prayers go to the families of passengers on-board a plane that crashed into Lake Victoria, with our full solidarity to the Government & people of Tanzania," Faki wrote on Twitter. "The East African Community joins and sends our condolences to Mama Samia Suluhu Hassan, families and friends of all those who were affected by the Precision Air plane accident," Mathuki said, also on Twitter. Sunday's crash is one of the deadliest to occur in the East African country.

A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on- board today (Monday) crashed in the country's mountainous southern Guangxi Zhuang  autonomous region, Chinese authorities and international media reported.  "The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines, which took off from  Kunming and was bound for Guangzhou, crashed in Tengxian County in the city  of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire," state-run Xinhua news agency said  quoting China's regional emergency management department.  It said the accident occurred on Monday afternoon while the Aviation  Administration of China on its website said the aircraft was carrying 132  people, 123 of them being passengers and rest were crew members.  The administration said it initiated an "emergency response mechanism and  dispatched a working team to the site" and the rescue operation was underway  with the Wuzhou fire brigade sending 117 firefighters with23 fire trucks to  the site.   "Further 538 firefighters from other parts of Guangxi have been dispatched  to join in the rescue efforts," the regional fire department said at its  Weibo account.   The BBC, meanwhile, said the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 was flying  from Kunming to Guangzhou when it came down in hills in Guangxi province and  caught fire.   "It is feared there are no survivors, but the number of casualties - and  reason for the crash are not yet known," the BBC report read.   Videos widely shared on social media that appear to be taken by locals  showed that plane debris strewn around the hills, and a fiery blaze and smoke  billowing from the crash site and the Chinese state media shared those  footages as well.  The footage posted online show plumes of smoke billowing from a mountainous,  forested area and what appears to be wreckage from the plane on a muddy,  mountain path.   Chinese airlines generally have a good safety record while the last major  accident took place 12 years ago when a flight from Harbin crashed in Yichun  killing 42 people.  China Eastern is yet to comment on the crash, or respond to queries; but it  has made its logo grey on its Weibo account and also changed its website to  black and white- a sign of mourning.  BBC flight tracking sites reported that the plane was in the air for just  over an hour, and was nearing its destination when it went down in Wuzhou.  According to FlightRadar24 data, the last sourced information on the flight  showed it ended at 14:22 local time, at an altitude of 3,225 ft.  The state-run Russian news agency TASS said the aircraft was less than seven  years old and was in operation by China Eastern Airlines since 2015.  Source: BSS AH

A passenger plane from Afghanistan's Ariana Airlines crashed Monday in a Taliban-held area of the eastern Ghazni province, local officials said. However, Ariana Airlines told The Associated Press that none of its planes had crashed in Afghanistan. The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled. The number of people on board and their fate was not immediately known, nor was the cause of the crash. Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the plane went down around 1:10 p.m. local time (8:40 a.m. GMT) in Deh Yak district, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul. He said the crash site is in territory controlled by the Taliban. Two provincial council members also confirmed the crash. But the acting director for Ariana Airlines, Mirwais Mirzakwal, dismissed reports that one the company's aircraft had crashed. The state-owned airline also released a statement on its website saying all its aircraft were operational and safe. The mountainous Ghazni province sits in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains and is bitterly cold in winter. The Taliban currently control or hold sway over around half the country. The last major commercial air crash in Afghanistan occurred in 2005, when a Kam Air flight from the western city of Herat to Kabul crashed into the mountains as it tried to land in snowy weather. The war, however, has seen a number of deadly crashes of military aircraft. One of the most spectacular occurred in 2013 when an American Boeing 747 cargo jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Bagram air base north of Kabul en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. All seven crew member were killed. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that large military vehicles were inadequately secured and had shifted during flight, causing damage to the control systems that "rendered the airplane uncontrollable." Afghanistan's aviation industry suffered desperately during the rule of the Taliban when Ariana, its only airline at the time, was subject to punishing sanctions and allowed to fly only to Saudi Arabia for Hajj pilgrimage. Since the overthrow of the Taliban's religious regime, smaller private airlines have emerged, but the industry is still a nascent one. Source: AP/UNB AH