Russia’s Military Jet Suffered Engine Failure And Crashed Into A Residential Area

On October 17th, the Russian Defense Ministry said that a Su-34 bomber came down in the port city of Yeysk after one of its engines caught fire during takeoff for a training mission. Both crew members bailed out safely, but the plane crashed into a residential area, the impact caused fuel explosion follow by a destructive fire. The authorities said the accident left at least 4 people dead and 6 missing, but multiple media reported at least 13 people had died. Also, 25 were injured and 8 of them were hospitalized. There were at least 17 apartments were affected by the fire, and 250 residents were evacuated and put into temporary shelter. The lieutenant governor, Anna Menkova, said that the 3 of the 4 victims died by jumping off from the upper floors in the building in a desperate attempt to escape the flames. The Su-34 is a supersonic twin-engine bomber and it is the most advanced aircraft in the Russian Air Force. The bomber was wide use during the war in Syria and the fighting in Ukraine. Analysts said the accident marked the 10th non-combat crash of a Russian warplane since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. This shows that the Russian Air Force has serious maintenance problems with its aircrafts and the pilots were probably insufficiently trained.