Officials said that 13 people were killed after a Russian military jet crashed into a residential section of Yeysk, a town in the southwest of the nation close to the border with Ukraine. Dramatic footage going around the internet on Monday shows the airplane bursting into a flame as it collided with the apartment block. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the accident happened during a training flight from a military base. Veniamin Kondratyev, the regional governor, identified the aircraft as a Sukhoi Su-34, a supersonic medium-range fighter bomber.
As the jet dove toward the nine-story apartment building, explosions can be seen in social media videos. The building finally caught fire after the accident, which started a large conflagration.
Before the jet crashed into the apartment building, the crew could exit safely. The pilots reported that an engine caught fire during takeoff, which caused a big fire when the plane’s fuel came in touch with the structure, according to the military ministry quoted by the news agency Reuters.
After initially reporting three fatalities, the ministry of emergencies confirmed that rescuers had finished searching the wreckage and found “10 additional dead.”
According to the ministry, which Russian news outlets cited, “13 individuals overall perished, including three children, while 19 people were injured.”
