An Embraer Legacy business jet crashed this Wednesday in the Tver region, Russia, about 160 km from the capital Moscow. According to TASS news agency there were no survivors.
“The Embraer airplane was on the way from Sheremetyevo to St. Petersburg. There were three pilots and seven passengers on board. All of them died,” the Russian official said.
Videos of unconfirmed authenticity were shared on social media showing an aircraft releasing smoke and possibly already without one of the wings falling out of control. There are also videos, equally unconfirmed, showing the wreckage of the plane in flames.
A piece of the tail, however, indicates that it is the Legacy 600 registered RA-02795 and that it is used by the leader of the mercenary group.
According to the Russian agency, the plane had taken off less than 30 minutes ago and caught fire after hitting the ground. FlightRadar24 shows part of the flight, with the Legacy already over 12,000 feet northwest of Moscow.
An Embraer Legacy 600 jet (RA-02795), operated by the Wagner Group, crashed in a field near Kuzhenkino, Tver Region, Russia, and burst into flames. All ten on board (3 crew members and 7 passengers) have died. https://t.co/kTUqSHy50v
— Aviation Safety Network (ASN) (@AviationSafety) August 23, 2023
Twelve minutes later, the ADS-B recording stops when the aircraft is at 29,000 feet. The information coincides with videos showing the jet falling from a high altitude.
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) reported that the name Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenary group, was on the passenger list of the crashed flight.
“An investigation has been launched into the crash of an Embraer plane that occurred in the Tver region this evening. According to the passenger list, the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin were included in this list,” the agency noted.
After a period of silence caused by the group’s rebellion in June, Prigozhin has again posted a video, allegedly in Africa. According to the BBC, the former ally of Vladimir Putin was considered a “dead man walking”.
