Official confirmation of the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin by the morning of August 24th had still not been provided. However, 6 sources within the Wagner Private Military Company "in one way or another" confirmed the death of Prigozhin, who was listed among the passengers of the plane, to the "Russian Service of the BBC." Reports about the deaths of Prigozhin and the Wagner PMC commander Dmitry Utkin were circulated the day before by the pro-Wagner Telegram channel "Grey Zone" and the pro-Kremlin television channel "Tsargrad."
The bodies of the deceased from the crash of the Embraer Legacy 600 plane began to be transported for forensic examination, as reported by "Fontanka" and the Telegram channel "Shot." According to "Shot," two vehicles from a funeral service entered the restricted area near the plane crash site at around 4:30 AM and left at six in the morning. The reports suggest that the bodies will be taken to the Tver morgue, where the forensic examination bureau is located. Forensic experts are still working at the crash site.
The flight tracking service Flightradar24, which monitors aircraft flights, published a report on the crash of the business jet. The plane began transmitting data at 17:46 Moscow time. According to the report, by 18:10, the jet had climbed to an altitude of 28,000 feet (approximately 8.5 kilometers). The flight continued at this altitude until 18:19. Subsequently, for a few minutes, the plane descended and then ascended again (reaching a maximum of 30,100 feet, or about 9.1 kilometers).
At 18:19, according to the Flightradar24 chart, the plane began to descend. As clarified to Reuters by Jan PetÅ™íÄek, a representative of the service, within 30 seconds, the jet lost eight thousand feet (2.4 kilometers) of altitude. The Bell points out that before the descent, the plane was not descending but was continuing to climb, "which means that the occurrence was sudden and unexpected." In a video of the plane's descent, it is noticeable that it approaches the ground flatly, without part of its wing and tail. Witnesses reported hearing two explosions.
The Russian Investigative Committee stated that there are currently no grounds for a terrorism case.
Next to one of the bodies, Yevgeny Prigozhin's phone was found, reported Al Jazeera citing a source within the Wagner Private Military Company. The body of Prigozhin himself has not yet been identified, the channel's source added.
