Russian military cargo plane crashes, 5 crew members killed

Moscow – A Russian military cargo plane crashed Friday on a training flight after refueling 124 miles (200 km) southeast of Moscow, killing five crew members and injuring several others, officials said.

An Il-76 heavy cargo plane crashed in the Ryazan region after experiencing an engine problem that forced the 10-man crew to land. The Russian news agency TASS reported that the plane, which was not carrying cargo, was on its way from Belgorod to Orenburg.

The regional administration initially said four crew members were killed and five others injured when the plane hit a power line and crashed into a field outside the city of Ryazan after refueling at a local air base. TASS later reported that one of the wounded had died.

A video clip showed at least one charred engine separated from the fuselage lying on a green meadow near woods, highways and homes. Pieces of the plane were scattered in the meadow, some of them on fire.

The four-engine Il-76 was designed in the 1970s and served as the main heavy cargo aircraft for the Soviet and Russian Air Forces. Several other countries have also used the aircraft.

Across Russia in eastern Siberia, emergency workers searched a vast area near Yakutsk on Friday for another cargo plane, an An-2, that disappeared from radar on Wednesday.

TASS said the plane was carrying two crew members and a passenger, as well as one ton of cargo. The plane’s emergency beacons failed, so its whereabouts were unknown, and the mountainous terrain complicated the helicopter search, the news agency said.