MOSCOW – A Russian military cargo plane crashed during a training flight on Friday after refueling about 124 miles (200km) southeast of Moscow, killing five crew members and leaving several others injured, officials said.
The IL-76 heavy cargo plane crashed in the Ryazan region after receiving an engine problem that forced the 10-member crew to land. The unloaded plane was flying from Belgorod to Orenburg, the Russian news agency TASS reported.
The regional administration initially said four crew members were killed and five others were injured when the plane hit a power line and hit a field just outside the city of Ryazan after refueling at a local air base. TASS later reported that one of the wounded had died.
The video shows at least one charred engine separated from the fuselage, lying on a green meadow near forests, highway and houses. Pieces of the plane were scattered across the lawn, some in flames.
The four-engine IL-76 was designed in the 1970s and served as a major heavy cargo aircraft for the Soviet and Russian air forces. Many other countries have also used the aircraft.
Across Russia in Eastern Siberia, emergency services searched a vast area near Yakutsk on Friday for another cargo plane, the An-2, which disappeared from radar on Wednesday.
TASS reported that the plane was carrying two crew members and one passenger, as well as 1 ton of cargo. The plane’s emergency beacons have reportedly given up, so its whereabouts are unknown, and the mountainous terrain complicates the search by helicopter, the news agency reported.
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