The death toll from the crash of a Ukrainian air force jet during an air show in western Ukraine has risen to 83 people, including 19 children, the ministry for emergency situations said on Sunday.
Another 116 people were injured when on Saturday the plane ploughed into a crowd of onlookers and burst into flames, said a ministry official in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, Sergui Partalian.
Of those, 66 were still in hospital on Sunday, including 23 in serious condition, he added.
However he warned it was not yet possible to give an accurate death toll as many victims had been torn apart in the accident, making the body count difficult.
”It is difficult to say if this figure is definitive, as a number of bodies were dismembered and the identification of the victims is continuing,” he said.
The low-flying Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27 jet appeared to lose control before hitting the ground and exploding during the show in Sknyliv, near Lviv, on Saturday afternoon.
The two pilots were able to eject to safety at the last minute. They were hospitalised without life-threatening injuries.
In response to the tragedy, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma fired the country’s air force commander-in-chief, Viktor Strelnikov, and commander of the 14th air force division which participated in the airshow, Viktor Oniszhenko.
He also urged a ban on military airshows in Ukraine.
No information has been made public about the cause of the accident, which is being investigated by a commission headed by the country’s national security chief Yevgeny Marchuk.
But according to unofficial reports, an engine failure could be to blame. – Sapa-AFP