Last Monday at 10:16 p.m., a Ukrainian military cargo plane IL-76 crashed into the water two kilometers from the United Arab Emirates shore. Four minutes after the plane took off from the Ras al Khaymah airport a fire broke out onboard and the plane went down 15 kilometers from its takeoff site. According to the Ukrainian embassy in UAE, all eight crew members were killed.
IL-76 belonged to MAF cargo fleet and was based at the Uzyn air base, Kyiv region. The accident took place under normal weather conditions. A special commission formed of MAF members and representatives of the ATI company which had rented the plane from the military last year flew to the UAE the next day to investigate the accident. Initially, it considered two versions: engine fire or an on-board explosion but the latter version was later ruled out.
On Thursday, July 16, another Ukrainian cargo IL-78 with 10 crew members flying from Burgas, Bulgaria crashed near the airstrip of the Eritrean capital's Asmara airport. For the time being, all IL-76 and IL-78 flights are suspended.






