Russia’s state investigation committee has opened a criminal case into the fighter plane crash that took place in the southern city of Yeysk. The crash engulfed apartments in a huge fireball. As per officials, four people were killed while six were missing. The committee has released a video of investigators inspecting the scene.
Regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev also released video of firefighters extinguishing fire in a nine-storey building.
Yeysk is separated from occupied Russian territory in southern Ukraine by a narrow stretch of the Sea of Azov.
Russian state-owned RIA agency said that the crash took place during a training flight from a military airfield
Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed of the fire and ordered “all necessary assistance be given to casualties from the military plane incident,” the Kremlin told the state-run news agency TASS.
“On October 17, 2022, while taking off to carry out a training flight from the military airfield of the Southern Military District, an Su-34 aircraft crashed,” said Russian defence ministry.
Its statement said the military jet had malfunctioned after “one of its the engines caught fire during take-off”.
“At the site of the Sukhoi Su-34 crash, in the courtyard of a residential area, the aircraft’s fuel caught fire,” the ministry said.
Images on social media showed a Soviet-era residence block engulfed by flames.
Russian state-run agencies quoted emergency services who said that the fire reached five out of nine floors of the residential building.
The blaze spread over 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet), the services added.
Around 600 people usually live in the building, the local Krasnodar administration said on Telegram.
(With inputs from agencies)
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