The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed that 15 people have died in the Ivanovo region in Russia after a military Il-76 crashed.
According to the Russian news outlet TASS, the Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff on March 12, 2024.
“On March 12, at about 13:00 Moscow time, while taking off for a scheduled flight, an Il-76 military transport aircraft crashed in the Ivanovo region. There were eight crew members and seven passengers on board,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
The Russian government confirmed that the aircraft suffered a fire in one of its engines, which was supported by video of the incident.
In a video shared on social media, the military aircraft can be seen with one of its right engines on fire as the plane appears to lose altitude.
Russian Telegram channels report that an aircraft caught fire in Russian Ivanovo airfield and sharply began to descend. Black smoke is coming from the crash site, locals report. pic.twitter.com/EY4IrNoOxH
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 12, 2024
Footage captured later shows a huge plume of smoke rising from an area in the Ivanovo region and a large fire.
In a separate video the Il-76 military transport aircraft appears to lose one of its engines after separating from the plane.
Russian defense ministry confirms the crash of a military Il-76 aircraft in Russian Ivanovo region.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 12, 2024
Eight crew members and seven passengers were on board.
The video shows a part of the aircraft falling off it in flight. https://t.co/we5a9MGP45 pic.twitter.com/iieY1N2fIW
A commission of the Main Command of the Russian Aerospace Forces has been deployed to the crash site to gather evidence following the incident.
