About 15 minutes before the planned landing at Perm at an altitude of 5400 meters, the aircraft suddenly banked heavily to the right and then to the left. The An-24 spiralled down reaching a speed of almost 1000 km/h. At an altitude of 2700 m the aircraft gained some lift again and went into an upward looping. On top of it the airframe broke apart due to the high g loads. Afterwards, it fell down with a horizontal speed of 20 to 30 km/h and a vertical speed of 250 to 270 km/h. Of the 39 people aboard, about four people survived the crash as the fuselage fell on a thick layer of snow. Because of the bitter cold (- 41ø C) the survivors died before rescue parties arrived. The official investigation could not establish the cause of the crash. However, clues indicating the explosion of a missile were found, e.g. dots of green paint which was not from the aircraft. The Ministry of Defence denied that there were any exercises in the area. And according to the Meteorological Service there were no launches of weather balloons in the area.