Aircraft carrying bodies of Russians killed in Mali hotel attack arrives in Ulyanovsk

The aircraft of Volga-Dnepr Airlines carrying the bodies of Russians who perished in the Mali terrorist attack has arrived in Russia’s Ulyanovsk region, a source at the airport told TASS on Sunday.

"The plane with the victims’ bodies on board has arrived in the Ulyanovsk region. Only a limited number of people was allowed to go to the runway. The unloading procedure will be closed to outsiders," the source said.

Spokesman for the regional investigative agency Alexander Sorokin earlier told TASS that the identification procedures and forensic tests were scheduled for Sunday.

On Monday, mourning ceremonies will be held in the city followed by funerals.

On November 20, extremists attacked the Radisson Blue hotel in Mali’s capital of Bamako taking hostage 170 people - 140 guests and 30 employees of the hotel. Special units of the armed forces of Mali, with the support of the French security services, stormed the building rescuing hundreds of hostages, with six Russian nationals among them. Twenty people were killed in the terror attack, including six Russians - the crew members of Volga-Dnepr Airlines. Five of the victims are residents of the Russian Ulyanovsk region located in the mid-Volga area, some 880 kilometres (547 miles) southeast of Moscow and one was from Nizhny Novgorod, some 400km east (250 miles) of Moscow.

On November 22, the survivors returned to their home city of Ulyanovsk.

A day of mourning was declared in the Ulyanovsk region on November 23. The city residents continue to bring candles, icons and flowers to the airline’s office.