Russia on Thursday confirmed that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board the crashed plane.
Russia’s emergency services announced that all 10 bodies on the Embraer Legacy have now been recovered. Those on board included Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his second-in-command Dmitry Utkin.
Police have now cordoned off the area around the crash site and the Russian Aviation Authority has set up a special committee to look into it. An investigation is underway to find out what caused the crash.
How did the plane crash?
A plane carrying three crew members and seven passengers was en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed nearly 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the capital, according to officials cited by Russian state news agency Tass.
A BBC report said the operating plane showed no signs of trouble until a sudden drop in altitude received in the last 30 seconds, flight tracking data showed.
Ian Petchenik, who works for Flightradar24, told Reuters news agency that the Embraer Legacy 600 jet made a “sudden vertical descent” at 15:19 GMT.
Then, within about 30 seconds, the plane plunged more than 8,000 feet above its 28,000-foot cruise altitude.
“Whatever happens happens quickly,” Petchenik said, before adding that prior to the crash, there was no indication that the plane had problems.
The accident immediately raised suspicion as the fate of the founder of the private military company Wagner has been the subject of intense speculation since he launched the mutiny.
At the time, President Vladimir Putin denounced the uprising as “treason” and “stabbed in the back” and vowed revenge. But the charges against Prigozhin were quickly dropped. The head of Wagner, whose army is one of Russia’s best fighting forces in Ukraine, was allowed to retreat to Belarus, while also reportedly making occasional appearances in Russia.
(With agency input)
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Updated: August 24, 2023, 10:27 a.m. IST
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