A Russian military transport plane with 15 people on board crashed on Tuesday while taking off from an air base in western Russia, the Defence Ministry said.
It said the Il-76 aircraft with eight crew and seven passengers crashed in the Ivanovo region. It didn’t say whether there were any survivors.
Stanislav Voskresensky, the governor of Ivanovo, offered condolences to the victims’ families. He said there was no damage on the ground.
The Defence Ministry said in a statement that an engine fire during takeoff was the likely cause of the crash. It said a team of investigators flew to Ivanovo to conduct a probe.
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 Defence Ministry reported dozens of attacks on Russia by Ukrainian drones. In the past, Ukrainian drones hit some military air bases deep inside Russia.
