There were 22 people on board the aircraft, though reports could not agree on the total number of passengers and crews. News media reported a total of 16 passengers and 6 crew members, however the official investigation report stated that there were 4 crew members and 18 passengers on board, without a confirmation on their nationalities. Of the passengers, thirteen were South Koreans and the other three were from the Czech Republic. The Korean passengers were part of a tour group. The crew was made up of 3 flight crew and 1 cabin crew, consisting of an Uzbekistani pilot and a Cambodian co-pilot, a Cambodian flight engineer and a Cambodian flight attendant. The other flight attendants, all of whom were Cambodians, were listed as passengers.The commander of Flight 241 was identified as 56-year old Nikolay Pavlenko and his co-pilot was identified as 42- year old Uth Chan Dara. During the flight, the co-pilot was the pilot flying. The flight engineer was identified as 43- year old Hean Chan Dara. Pavlenko was an Uzbekistan citizen and previously had undergone training in the USSR. He had accrued a total flying experience of 10,345 flight hours, of which more than 5,000 were on the Antonov An- 24. Compared to Pavlenko, Co-pilot Dara was less experienced with a total flying experience of 3,520 flight hours. Flight 241 departed Siem Reap at 10:01 local time with 18 passengers and 4 crew members. Co-pilot Dara was the pilot flying while Captain Pavlenko was the pilot not flying. The crew had received weather information from air traffic controller earlier through phone. According to said information, there was cloud and rain north of Sihanoukville. The flight was later cleared to fly direct to Sihanoukville.As the aircraft reached the mid-point of the route between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, it started to deviate to the left of the track. The crew might have decided to deviate in response to the deteriorating weather condition along the route. Their decision to deviate, h