MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian military plane crash in annexed Crimea has killed six crew and 23 passengers, Russian news agencies reported in the early hours of Wednesday, citing the Defense Ministry.
The An-26 military transport plane was carrying out a scheduled flight over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, the reports said. The military lost contact with the plane around 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Soviet-designed military transport turboprop aircraft crashed into a cliff, sources at the scene told state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti.
Russia's Investigative Committee said a total of seven crew members and 23 passengers were on board. It wasn't immediately clear from official statements if one crew member has survived.
The Investigative Committee said it has launched a criminal probe in connection with flight regulations and a search is underway in a mountainous forested area in the Bakhchisarai district.
The Interfax news agency cited the Defense Ministry as saying a suspected technical malfunction may have caused the crash and that there was no “damaging interference” with the aircraft.
Accidents involving Russian military planes have been frequent since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine.
In December, an An-22 military transport plane crashed in Russia's Ivanovo region, killing seven crew. In October, a MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in the Lipetsk region, while a Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in the Siberian region of Irkutsk in April 2025.
In October 2022, a Su-34 bomber crashed into a residential area of Yeysk, a Russian city on the Azov sea, sparking a massive fire and killing 15 people.
FILE - A AN-26 is seen at a base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Sunday, March 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Na Son Nguyen, File)
NEW DELHI (AP) — India has begun the world’s largest national population count, which could reshape welfare programs and political representation across the country.
The previous census in 2011 recorded a population of 1.21 billion. It's now estimated to be more than 1.4 billion, making India the most populous nation.
The new census had been planned for 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical challenges.
Here’s how India’s census works and why it is significant:
The first phase of the count started Wednesday and will roll out around the country through September. The workers will spend about a month in each area collecting information on homes and available facilities and will document housing stock and living conditions.
The exercise will blend in-person surveys with a digital option where residents can submit information through a multilingual smartphone application that integrates satellite-based mapping.
The second phase to be conducted from September to next April 1 will record more detailed information, like people's social and economic characteristics, including religion and caste.
More than 3 million government workers are expected to be deployed over the course of the year. In 2011, nearly 2.7 million enumerators surveyed more than 240 million households nationwide.
The second phase of the census will attempt a broader accounting of caste beyond historically marginalized groups.
Caste is an ancient system of social hierarchy in India and is influential in defining social standing and deciding who gets access to resources, education and economic opportunity. There are hundreds of caste groups based on occupation and economic status across India, particularly among Hindus, but the country has limited or outdated data on how many people belong to them.
The last attempt to gather detailed caste information through a census dates to 1931, during British colonial rule. Since independent India’s first census in 1951, it counted only Dalits and Adivasis, members of marginalized groups known as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who qualify for certain government benefits.
Successive governments have resisted conducting a full caste count, arguing it could heighten social tensions and trigger unrest.
Population data collected through the census underpins the distribution of government welfare programs and a wide range of public policies.
It could also prompt a redrawing of India’s political map, as seats in the lower house of Parliament and state legislatures may be increased to reflect population growth. A 2023 law reserves one-third of legislative seats for women, so any expansion would raise the number of seats set aside for female representatives.
Irfan Ahmad checks census registration online at a registration center as the street is reflected on the glass in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
A Muslim woman checks her census registration online at a registration center in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
FILE -Mahesh Shah, left, stands as his family members look while census worker Rumima Das, writes the information on a paper on the first day of the national census at Ramsingh Chapori village, east of Gauhati, India, April 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)
FILE - Indians crowd ticket counters at a railway station in Ahmadabad, India, Oct. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)
