Passengers 44 Fatalities 5 Start date February 13, 2013 Injuries (nonfatal) 9 Survivor 47 | Crew 8 Survivors 47 Number of deaths 5 Operator South Airlines Passenger count 44 | |
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Summary Impacted ground right wing-first near the runway while attempting to land in fog Site Donetsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine Similar Nepal Airlines Flight 555, 2013 Goma Compagn, 2013 Siberia Polar Airli, SCAT Airlines Flight 760, Lion Air Flight 904 | ||
Raw south airlines flight 8971 crashes in eastern ukraine killing 5
On 13 February 2013, at 18:09 Kiev Time, a Ukrainian South Airlines Antonov An-24 plane commencing chartered flight YG 8971 crash-landed in Donetsk, Ukraine, leading to five confirmed fatalities.
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Accident
After a Ukrainian internal flight from Odessa to Donetsk the plane overshot the runway as it made a hard landing at Donetsk International Airport. As of 13 February 2013 five passengers were confirmed dead, while the fate of one passenger remains unclear. After touchdown the aircraft had burst into flames, however most occupants were evacuated because they were able to escape from the burning aircraft through a hole in the fuselage left by the crash. Eyewitnesses have stated that the aircraft was attempting to land in dense fog and touched down on soft ground between the main runway and the taxiway, other observers reported the aircraft touched down short of the runway, on soft ground. According to flight documentation on board were 36 passengers and 7 crew members; but there were also several unregistered passengers making the total of people on board 52.
All 44 passengers were football fans on their way to the match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund. This match opened with a minute of silence in memory of the deceased.
The aircraft was built in 1973.
Investigation
Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Officer Volodymyr Vyshynsky is in charge of the inquiry which was opened the day after the crash. On 14 February 2013 investigators considered pilot error, faulty ground support equipment and poor weather conditions as possible causes. The plane's pilot blamed bad weather for the accident; while the plane's operator, South Airlines, stated that the plane was in good condition and the pilot should not have landed in the fog and should have diverted to another airport. One passenger mentioned "engine failure during landing".