The Vnukovo Airlines aircraft, registration number RA-85621, had been chartered by Arktikugol, a Russian state-owned coal mining company, to fly Russian and Ukrainian workers to its Pyramiden town on Svalbard. The passengers all belonged to the Russian communities of Barentsburg and Pyramiden. The accident was a contributing cause for Arktikugol's closure of Pyramiden two years later. The accident was investigated by the Accident Investigation Board Norway with assistance from the Interstate Aviation Committee and became known as the Operafjell Accident (). After the accident, there were a series of lawsuits to determine the compensations to the victims' families.