Kharkiv Air Force University's crew and cadets were on board / Photo from facebook.com/anton.gerashchenko.7

The identification of the victims of an An-26 plane crash in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region, will take from two to three weeks.

This was announced by Kharkiv Governor Oleksiy Kucher.

"Based on my communication with pretrial investigation agencies, Collecting [DNA] samples will begin tomorrow [September 28]. Tests for all 25 individuals will take place in Kharkiv. This will take from two to three weeks," he said.

According to him, a list of persons whose DNA will be used for the tests to identify the victims has already been drafted.

The official also said that relatives of the victims continued to arrive in Kharkiv region; contact has been established with all of them.

Read alsoFather of cadet killed in An26 crash died in plane downing in Donbas warzone in 2014

An-26 accident in Chuhuiv: Background

  • The military plane crashed by the highway while approaching the Chuhuiv military airfield late on September 25.
  • Kharkiv Air Force University's crew and cadets were on board – a total of 27 people.
  • Twenty-five people were killed at the crash site, one of the two survivors died in hospital, the other one is undergoing treatment.
  • According to the SBU Security Service, the captain reported left engine failure to the tower and requested an approach to land.
  • Ukraine's Defense Minister Andriy Taran, citing aviation experts, said one of the sensors in the engine of the An-26 transport military aircraft failed, as a result of which the plane's wing caught on the ground as it was approaching the airfield near Chuhuiv before plunging and setting ablaze.
  • State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) agents are considering four theories of the An-26 military plane crash in Kharkiv region.
  • A cleanup operation at the An-26 crash site was over on September 27. Rescuers were searching for the bodies of the victims, cut the elements of the fuselage and provided psychological assistance to the relatives of the victims. Some 70 workers and 10 units of equipment were involved.
  • The An-26 that crashed on September 25 was manufactured in 1977. It had been operated as a training aircraft for the Air Force.