Mineralnye Vody - Rostov-on-Don - Vilnius

On September 2, 1970 at 03:37 PM, Mineralnye Vody - Rostov-on-Don - Vilnius experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-124, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Lihovka Zapolishki Poltava oblast.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

37 people were known to be on board, 37 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 32, passenger fatalities: 32, other fatalities: 0.

The airplane departed Rostov-on-Don Airport at 1455LT and reached the assigned altitude of 8,400 meters at 1514LT. At this time, ATC instructed the crew to climb to 9,000 meters due to traffic ahead. The new altitude of 9,000 meters was reached two minutes later at 1516LT. While cruising in good weather conditions, the crew sent a brief message and mentioned the number '45' followed by a long pause. A second message was heard on the frequency with the number 'zero' then a third message with the pilot shouting the number '12'. Then the contact was definitely interrupted and the airplane entered a dive. During the descent, it reached the speed of 950 km/h and banked left to an angle of 75° before crashing in a cornfield located about 90 km from Dniepropetrovsk and 57 km from Krementchug. At impact, the airplane caused a huge crater and the accident was not survivable.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-45012, MSN 1 35 04 02, year of manufacture 1961.