Russian An-22 Crashes in Test Flight, 7 Crew Aboard

A Russian military transport aircraft crashed during a test flight in the central Ivanovo Region on Tuesday, with seven crew members on board and their fates still undetermined, according to the Defense Ministry.

The Antonov An-22, a heavy cargo plane undergoing its first flight after repairs, went down in a remote, unpopulated area about 250 kilometers east of Moscow. The ministry stated that the incident occurred near the Uvodskoye Reservoir, where fragments of the aircraft were later found on the shore and in the water. A search and rescue team was immediately dispatched to the site to assess the crew's condition, while a commission from the Russian Air Force was sent to investigate the cause of the crash.

Officials provided few additional details about the circumstances leading to the accident. The ministry's statement emphasized that the plane had just completed maintenance work before the test flight. An unnamed source cited by the TASS news agency reported that all seven crew members perished in the incident, though this has not been officially confirmed.

The An-22, developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, is the world's largest turboprop-powered aircraft and has been a...