The crash, with 44 fatalities, killed a number of Russian and Ukrainian aviation specialists.

The aircraft was en route from Kharkiv in Ukraine to Isfahan in Iran, having stopped in Trabzon, Turkey to refuel.

[1] It hit high ground on a night-time descent to Isfahan International Airport, killing all on board.

[2][4] The aircraft's flight data recorder was recovered and the initial investigation into the crash stated that the primary cause was due to "procedural navigation errors by the crew".

[2] The Commonwealth of Independent States' Interstate Aviation Committee report concluded that the main causes of the crash were poor crew management, failing to apply approach procedures, and incorrect use of the aircraft's GPS satellite navigation system, in breach of its operational requirements and their rating for its use on approach; failure to use information from other installed navigation equipment; failure to seek an alternative approach when they realised the GPS could not be giving a realistic distance measuring equipment readout.