An Il 76 flying from Kampala to Somalia with cargo for Ugandan peacekeepers crashed into Lake Victoria. All 11 on board died, including Russians Viktor Kovalev and Yevgeny Korol, and two Ukrainians. Witnesses said the plane caught fire in the air and fell soon after takeoff from Entebbe. This is the third Il 76 crash in the region in the past year, and the plane may have been shot down by rebels.

Yesterday, an IL-76 aircraft crashed into Lake Victoria. All 11 people on board were killed. Among them were Russians — captain and second pilot Viktor Kovalev and Yevgeny Korol, as well as two Ukrainian citizens, also crew members.
The aircraft was flying from Kampala to Somalia and was carrying cargo intended for Ugandan peacekeepers deployed in the country. After taking off from Entebbe International Airport, it fell into Lake Victoria about 30 minutes later, was destroyed on impact, and sank. According to France Presse, the plane was carrying citizens of Uganda, Burundi, and South Africa. High-ranking officers of the armed forces of Burundi were on board, as well as cargo — water purification units, pipes, and other equipment.
Eyewitnesses claim that the aircraft caught fire while still in the air, after which it fell into Lake Victoria, located near Uganda’s main airport. The IL-76 crashed 30 minutes after takeoff.
This disaster is the third involving Il-76 cargo planes in this region over the past year. Exactly a year ago, in March, another Il-76 belonging to the Sudanese airline Ababel also crashed in Somalia; it was flown by a crew from Belarus. And on June 30 of last year, another Il-76 crashed during takeoff from Khartoum airport. All four crew members — pilots from the CIS — were killed.
The peacekeepers who died were apparently sent to Somalia by the African Union, which has been trying all this time to stop the violence in this country, which has lost 16,000 people over two years.
Peacekeeping units are deployed primarily in Uganda and Burundi, but so far they have been unable to seriously affect the situation and often die themselves. It is quite possible that this time too the plane was shot down by Somali rebels.