An An-24 plane, chartered by the Asa Pesada Company, crashed last Wednesday in Angola immediately after takeoff at the Luanda Airport. The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine quotes the Russian Federation Embassy in Angola as saying that the crash claimed the lives of 38 passengers and 4 crew members, including three citizens of Ukraine. It was not confirmed whether the fourth crew member is a Ukrainian citizen. The RF embassy has also handed over the passport copies of the dead Ukrainians furnished by the Angolans. As the Ukrainian foreign affairs agency reports, information on the Angola tragedy has been sent to the consular sections of regional police authorities to be forwarded to the next of kin of those killed. The Embassy of Ukraine in the South African Republic has been instructed to consider, together with the Russian Embassy, how to transport the bodies of the Ukrainian victims home.
It is still unclear what caused the crash. Preliminary information says the disaster could have been caused by an engine failure during takeoff (the plane fell five minutes from the runway). Asa Pesada management has reported rescuers found the black box at the crash site. If decoded, its recordings may help clarify the true causes of the crash. It is the second crash of an Antonov plane over the past three weeks: on October 31 an An- 26 crashed near the Angolan town of Saurimo, killing about fifty passengers and six crew members. The plane was piloted by four Ukrainian citizens. The causes have not yet been determined. Meanwhile, the Portuguese news agency LUSA quoted a UNITA anti-government group’s report as saying that the plane was shot down by its fighters. UNITA, which has been an waging armed struggle against Angola’s central government for many years, claimed that the plane was carrying “diamonds extracted from our soil.” However, the country’s government said this was a false claim and the disaster had been caused by a fault in one of the engines.
