Another Il-76 Military Transport Plane Goes Down In Russia

Russia’s Defense Ministry has confirmed that one of its Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes has crashed in Russia on Tuesday, citing engine failure as the reason which occurred shortly after take-off.

The 15 total people that were on board, including eight crew members and seven passengers, are feared dead amid emergency efforts to reach and assess the crash site. Initial local reports said there were no survivors.

“An Il-76 military transport aviation plane crashed in the Ivanovo region while taking off to perform a scheduled flight. On board were eight crew members and seven passengers,” the defense ministry statement said.

Russian authorities have been further cited as saying that “the cause of the disaster was a fire in one of the engines during take-off.”

It happened over the Ivanovo region, which lies some 125 miles east of Moscow. Shocking video of the large transport plane flying low with one of its engines shooting flames out of it has widely circulated on social media.

Russia’s state-backed RT has written, “According to media reports, the plane’s pilot was trying to return to the Ivanovo Severny air base but was unable to do so.” That’s when the pilot “apparently diverted the doomed aircraft away from a village, crashing it near a cemetery.”

Video which has been authenticated by state media of the large military transport plane going down:

Russian Il-76 crashes near Ivanovo, 200 km north-east of Moscow. 12 Russians were reportedly on board. pic.twitter.com/YuVfa3Lixk

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) March 12, 2024

The Il-76 has been in operation since 1971 when it was produced as the Soviet air force’s main heavy transport plane. It is capable of taking some 140 paratroopers into battle.

Russia is believed to have well over 100 Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes in service by aerial forces, and they also have civilian use. They’ve been heavily relied upon to transport troops and equipment to and from the Ukraine battlefield over the last two years of war.

Another angle which appears to show parts falling from one of the engines:

A Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft had a bird strike and then attempted to land, but during that attempt.. one of the engines fell off.

On final approach, it did crash. pic.twitter.com/pE33BA9aiX

— Global: Military-Info (@Global_Mil_Info) March 12, 2024

Back in January, a major disaster unfolded when an Il-76 went down in the the Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine. Russian authorities said Ukraine forces shot the aircraft down, and 65 Ukrainian POWs who were being transported at the time died.

There were also six crew members and three Russian servicemen who perished, and it resulted also in Moscow accusations that a Western-supplied missile had hit the plane.