What Happened In The Final 30 Seconds Of Wagner's Boss's Plane Crash?

In a significant development on Wednesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary army known for its involvement in conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, and Africa, as well as an attempted mutiny against President Vladimir Putin, tragically lost his life along with nine others in a dramatic plane crash. However, questions arose about labeling the plane as "ill-fated" due to its "unusual descent" during the final 30 seconds prior to crashing near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region.

Russia's emergency situations ministry reported that the 13-seater Embraer (EMBR3.SA) Legacy 600 executive jet took off from Moscow with its destination set for Putin's hometown, St. Petersburg.

BREAKING ⚡️Wagner Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who launched an attempted coup against Putin in June, along with atleast 10 others, have been killed in a plane crash in Russias Tver region pic.twitter.com/41Dkq2OzwB

— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) August 23, 2023

According to Flightradar24, a Swedish internet-based service that provides real-time aircraft flight tracking information, the flight proceeded normally until 3:19 p.m. GMT.

The service noted that the aircraft underwent a "sudden downward vertical" movement, plummeting over 8,000 feet within a span of just 30 seconds from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet.

We have processed the raw data received from RA-02795, which crashed this afternoon near Tver, Russia. The aircraft did not send position data, but sent other data to provide a picture of how it fell from the sky. https://t.co/Yt1PreVrn5 pic.twitter.com/lW6bD8jgPw

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 23, 2023

According to Flightradar24, there were "no indications of any issues with the aircraft" prior to experiencing a sudden and significant drop.

"At 15:10 UTC, the aircraft reached an altitude of 28,000 feet and maintained level flight at a steady speed. This continued until 15:19 UTC, when the vertical rate underwent a sharp decrease. The aircraft briefly descended before ascending to a peak altitude of 30,100 feet, followed by another descent to approximately 27,500 feet," as reported by Flightradar24.

The aircraft was in level flight at 28,000 feet when it experienced an altitude upset, then descended at a high rate until data reception ceased at 19,725 feet. The graph below shows the final 32 seconds of received data from the time of deviation from cruise altitude to end of… pic.twitter.com/a47PnPaVQU

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 23, 2023

"It again climbs, reaching 29,300 feet before levelling off once again. It then descends, with the final data received at 15:20:14 UTC at an altitude of 19,725 feet. The altitude graph below shows the final 32 seconds of received altitude data," it noted.

Currently, the cause of the crash remains uncertain; however, numerous media outlets have speculated that the possibility of the aircraft being targeted from the ground cannot be ruled out. Russia, while refraining from providing specific information regarding the incident, has announced the initiation of a criminal investigation into the tragic crash.