MOSCOW: A Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed into a cliff ​in Crimea, killing 29 people on board, Russian news agencies reported the country’s defense ministry as saying early on Wednesday.

TASS news agency, quoting the ministry, ‌said the ‌crash site had ​been ‌located ⁠in ​Crimea, a ⁠peninsula jutting into the Black Sea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. The ministry said 23 passengers and six crew members ⁠had been killed.

The media ‌reports ‌did not say ​how many ‌people were on board, but ‌they did not mention any survivors.

“The AN-26 aircraft, with which communication was lost earlier, crashed ‌into a cliff, it was reported to TASS ⁠from ⁠the site of the crash,” TASS news agency reported.

RIA news agency said according to an initial assessment, technical problems were believed to have caused the crash.