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Up to 15 people are feared dead after a Russian military transport aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday.
Russia's Defense Ministry said that an Il-76 military cargo aircraft crashed at around 1 p.m. Moscow time (6 a.m. ET) during take off for a "scheduled flight," according to state media.
A total of 15 people were on board when the aircraft crashed near the city of Ivanovo, northeast of the capital, Moscow, the Russian government said. There were eight crew members and seven passengers on the transport aircraft, according to Moscow.
Dramatic footage circulating online appears to show the aircraft in flames just before the moment of impact. Russian authorities said "the cause of the disaster was a fire in one of the engines during takeoff."
Russian state newspaper, Izvestia, published an image it said was the first photograph of the wreckage site. It appears to show parts of an aircraft in a muddy, wooded area. Newsweek could not independently verify this photograph.
Russian Telegram channel, Shot, purported to have links to the Russian security services, said several bodies had been recovered from the crash site, citing an anonymous source. The state-backed Tass news agency later reported that there were no survivors of the crash.
This has not been officially confirmed by Russian officials.
Russian state-backed media reported that a fire broke out close to the Severny airfield, a few miles outside of Ivanovo. The blaze has been since been extinguished, the RIA Novosti state news agency reported, citing the regional governor.
The crash "did not affect populated areas of the Ivanovo region," according to regional officials, the news agency added.
Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft are designed to transport troops, military equipment, weapons and other types of cargo.
In late January 2024, another Il-76 aircraft carrying 74 people crashed in Russia's southern Belgorod region, on the border with Ukraine. The transport plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war at the time, according to Moscow. Russia blamed the crash on Ukraine, which Kyiv has never confirmed.
Footage posted to social media at the time appeared to show the moment the transport aircraft crashed, flames visibly leaping up into the sky followed by dark clouds of smoke.
In June 2022, an Il-76 plane crashed and caught fire close to the Russian city of Ryazan. Russia's state media reported that the engine of the transport aircraft had failed, and that five people were killed.
Update 3/12/2024 at 9:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 3/13/2024 at 11:50 a.m. ET: This article was updated with further context.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more