Poor weather conditions had required the flight to abort several landing attempts and the air crew failed to maintain awareness of the fuel quantity.

Subsequently, the investigation team blamed the airport for "not reporting the weather condition" in a timely manner to the crew.

[3] 41 kilometers from Vanavara, at an altitude of 3,000 meters, the airliner's engines flamed out as the fuel supply was exhausted.

[3] Captain Danilov ordered First Officer Shcherbakov and the flight mechanic Shurpatov to look out from the window and see if they could find the Chamba River.

The Yak-40 then rolled severely to the right and crashed into the bank of the Chamba River inverted, with the front portion in the water and the empennage resting on shore.