What happened
On a flight path from Rostov-on-Don to Kerch, an Antonov AN-24RV collided with another aircraft while operating in restricted visibility caused by heavy cloud cover. The second aircraft, an Aeroflot Antonov AN-24RV with registration CCCP-46518, was traveling from Donetsk to Sochi with 52 passengers and crew on board.
The incident occurred at an altitude of approximately 5,700 meters. Following the impact, both aircraft lost control and entered a steep dive. The planes crashed into the Black Sea, roughly 37 km south of Anapa. Both vessels descended to a depth of approximately 500 meters. The accident resulted in 70 fatalities, as there were no survivors among the occupants of either aircraft.
Findings
Investigations determined that the primary reason for the collision was air traffic controller error. The controller responsible for the western sector of the Krasnodar region failed to follow established protocols and did not maintain the mandatory 600-meter separation between the two aircraft before transferring them to the Anapa sector. Additional contributing elements included inadequate coordination between different air traffic control sectors and reduced visibility due to significant cloud layers.