The aircraft was operating a flight on the route Moscow–Stalingrad (now Volgograd)–Moscow.

During the flight, the right engine failed and caught fire.

All 25 people on board were killed, including 10 members of a delegation of Norwegian women who had arrived in the USSR at the invitation of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women, and three of its staff members who were accompanying the guests.

A government commission led by the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Mikhail Krunichev, arrived at the scene to investigate the causes of the accident.

During the war in Nazi-occupied Norway, inspired by the heroism of the defenders of Stalingrad, activists from various public organizations secretly sewed a Soviet flag, which they later presented to the Soviet military after the liberation of the country.