Pascal Arogorn Ibe
At least 22 people including military cadets were killed and two others seriously injured Friday when a Ukranian air force plane crashed near Kharkiv in the east of the country, the interior ministry said .
“ Twenty -two people died , ” Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko told AFP , adding that “ the search for two other people is continuing” .
The transport plane was carrying a total of 28 passengers when it crashed , including 21 military students and seven crew , he said .
“ It ’ s a shock , ” he added . “ At the moment it’ s impossible to establish the cause” of the crash . ”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would travel to the region on Saturday.
“ We are urgently creating a commission to investigate all the circumstances and causes of the tragedy , ” he wrote on Facebook .
The Antonov – 26 transport aircraft crashed at around 8:50 pm local time ( 17:50 GMT ) , two kilometres ( 1 mile) from the Chuhuiv military air base , the emergency services said .
The plane caught fire after the crash and was extingushed after one hour .
The town of Chuhuiv is around 30 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv and 100 kilometres west of the front line with the pro- Russian separatists .
AFP
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