Russian military plane with 15 people on board crashes after engine catches fire during takeoff

A Russian navy transport aircraft with 15 individuals on board crashed on Tuesday whereas taking off from an air base in western Russia, the Protection Ministry mentioned. The crash comes simply weeks after the identical kind of aircraft went down close to the Ukrainian border.

The ministry mentioned the Il-76 plane with eight crew and 7 passengers crashed within the Ivanovo area. It did not say whether or not there have been any survivors.

Ivanovo Gov. Stanislav Voskresensky supplied condolences to the victims’ households. He mentioned there was no injury on the bottom.

The Protection Ministry mentioned in an announcement that an engine hearth throughout takeoff was the seemingly reason behind the crash. It mentioned a group of investigators flew to Ivanovo to conduct a probe.

Russian media broadcast a video displaying the plane heading down with no less than one in every of its engines ablaze. The video confirmed a darkish plume of smoke within the sky as a helicopter circled, the Reuters information company reported.

The four-engine Il-76 is a heavy-lift transport aircraft that has been in service for the reason that Nineteen Seventies with the Soviet after which Russian air drive.

Russia has seen an enormous improve within the air and land transport of troops and navy gear throughout its territory throughout its two-year offensive in Ukraine.

Tuesday’s crash got here on a day when the Protection Ministry reported dozens of assaults on Russia by Ukrainian drones. Up to now, Ukrainian drones hit some navy air bases deep inside Russia.

Navy specialists have famous that because the variety of Russian navy flights elevated sharply throughout the preventing in Ukraine, so has the variety of crashes.

In January, Russia mentioned Ukraine had downed an Il-76 —  carrying Ukrainian prisoners of conflict — close to the international locations’ shared border.

A U.S. official instructed CBS Information on the time that there have been no fast indications {that a} missile fired from Ukraine had struck the aircraft, and that it remained unclear whether or not there have been Ukrainians on board the plane.

The AFP contributed to this report.