All passenger baggage from Vorkuta was loaded into the rear luggage compartment, but no search of the luggage contents was carried out, which was allowed by aviation guidelines at the time. The first phase of the route was carried out without any issues on board. After the aircraft landed in Syktyvkar five additional passengers boarded the aircraft, which included two Bulgarian loggers. The flight departed from
Syktyvkar at 09:55
Moscow time with 86 passengers aboard, including 19 children. While the Tu-134 was climbing away from the airport, approximately 10 minutes after takeoff at 10:05 while at an altitude of , the aircraft's rear
cargo hold smoke alarm
annunciated. The captain sent the flight engineer to verify the alert. The flight engineer confirmed that there was indeed a fire in the rear cargo hold where passenger baggage was stored, giving off excessive smoke. Doubting if the information he received from the flight engineer was correct the captain left the cockpit to investigate the situation with the flight engineer, in violation of established procedures. When he returned to the cockpit at 10:10:46, the plane had already climbed to an altitude of and was from Syktyvkar, which, taking into account the delay of about 4–5 minutes from the moment of the fire signal, significantly limited available options for dealing with the emergency. The captain then delegated the co-pilot and flight engineer to put out the fire while he and the navigator remained in the cockpit to initiate an emergency descent. The flight engineer and the first officer fought the fire while the captain and navigator initiated an immediate descent and turn in the direction go Syktyvkar in preparation for an emergency landing. At 10:11:11 he informed the air traffic controller about the onboard fire. At an altitude of the landing gear was released. When the aircraft was at an altitude of the flight engineer and the first officer returned to the cockpit and announced that the fire had not been extinguished, although two of the four
fire extinguishers had been deployed. The two officers had attempted to reach the rear cargo compartment but because the smoke and fumes were so intense they quickly became disoriented and did not discharge the fire extinguishers in the correct location. Neither the co-pilot nor the flight engineer used
oxygen masks or wore a
smokehood. The amount of smoke in the cabin was intensified in part by the engines not working on full power, hence the cabin ventilation was impaired. The plane was flying at an altitude of in clouds with a lower threshold of in rain. There was a possibility that due to abnormally low altitude relative to the distance from the airport the crew was not able to detect signals from the airport's radio navigation equipment. Under the circumstances of not being able to make an emergency landing at the airport immediately, the captain opted to make a
forced landing outside of the airport and informed
air traffic control of his decision. The Tu-134 descended below the clouds to an altitude of and then disappeared from radar screens at air traffic control. Radio communication was also interrupted, but communication between air traffic control and the aircraft was already conducted at that time through the aircraft's
radio repeater. The smoke in the
aircraft cabin induced coughing,
suffocation and bleeding from the
nasopharynx. The fumes of the various combustion products from the fire led some of the passengers to faint. The crew did not set the air conditioning to correspond with the current engine mode, but doing so would have had little change in the cabin air. In the course of nine minutes the crew tried to find a place to land. Because visibility was limited to 6 kilometers and the aircraft was at a low altitude, the flight failed to find anywhere appropriate to land, the captain was forced to land directly in the forest directly below, and did not have time to prepare the passengers for an emergency evacuation. At 10:27:10, to the south-west of Syktyvkar, flying on a bearing of 60°, at an altitude of above the ground, the Tu-134 struck with treetops and crashed into the forest. In violation of the
aircraft flight manual, the navigator left his station at the time of the landing. The aircraft hit the ground away from where it first struck the trees. Both wings were torn off the aircraft and the fuselage broke into three parts. A secondary fire broke out from fuel leaking after the tanks were damaged in the crash, destroying much of what remained of the aircraft. Passengers were speedily evacuated from the wreckage through the front luggage compartment, doors in the cabin, and breaks in fuselage. The cockpit door was jammed from the accident so the flight attendants helped the captain and flight engineer get out of the cockpit, but the navigator was killed in the accident and the flight engineer died of his injuries soon after getting out of the wreckage. At 13:35 the wreckage was spotted by a helicopter and 19 hours later all of the survivors were rescued from the scene. 54 of the 86 passengers died in the accident, including seven children. Forensic examination of the bodies of the deceased passengers showed that several of them had been killed by smoke inhalation and not the impact of the crash itself. == Investigation ==