What happened
During a flight traveling from Kyzyl toward Khovu-Aksy, the flight crew encountered weather conditions that had deteriorated below established minimums. The area was characterized by low cloud cover moving over mountainous terrain. While navigating through these clouds, the aircraft impacted a forested mountain slope located approximately 13 km south of Khovu-Aksy.
At the moment of impact, the aircraft was traveling at a speed of 200 km/h and was at an altitude of 1,940 meters. The mountain peak involved in the collision reached an elevation of 2,591 meters. Search efforts located the wreckage one day after the incident. There were 14 fatalities among the occupants of the aircraft.
Findings
Investigations into the accident determined that the crew elected to proceed into the cloud layer despite having no visual reference to the ground or nearby obstacles. The investigation concluded that the weather conditions encountered were more severe than what had been previously forecasted. The primary factor in the accident was controlled flight into terrain resulting from the decision to continue the flight under low-visibility conditions.