MOSCOW (Reuters/AP) - 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. Russian online news services said there were no survivors.
Unverified videos on Russian social media networks showed a plane with one engine on fire heading downwards. A dark plume of smoke was shown rising into the sky as a helicopter circled.
Russian media broadcast a video showing the aircraft heading down with at least one of its engines ablaze.
The four-engine Il-76 is a heavy-lift transport plane that has been in service since the 1970s with the Soviet and then Russian air force.
Tuesday’s crash came on a day when the Defense Ministry reported dozens of attacks on Russia by Ukrainian drones. In the past, Ukrainian drones hit some military air bases deep inside Russia.
Military experts have noted that as the number of Russian military flights increased sharply during the fighting in Ukraine, so has the number of crashes.