Russia said one of its Ilyushin Il-76 military cargo planes crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday with 15 people on board due to a fire in one of its engines.
Russia’s defence ministry said the crash took place in the Ivanovo region. The Ivanovo region is located more than 700 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. A dark plume of smoke was shown rising into the sky as a helicopter circled.
“At about 1:00 p.m. Moscow time, an IL-76 military transport aircraft crashed during takeoff for a scheduled flight in the Ivanovo region,” said the Defence Ministry.
“According to reports from the scene, the cause of the disaster was a fire in one of the engines during takeoff of the aircraft,” the Defence Ministry added.
Eight crew members and seven passengers were reportedly onboard the aircraft. The latest crash comes weeks after an IL-76 plane that Moscow claimed had been carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed in the Russian region close to region with Ukraine. Russian authorities had claimed that Ukrainian Armed Forces had shot down the aircraft in the Belgorod region.
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