In the southern Russian city of Yeysk, close to the Ukrainian border, a supersonic fighter jet collided with a residential structure, igniting it, and killing at least 13 people, three of them children.
On Monday, footage posted to social media showed a sizable flame rising from the nine-story structure. As rescue attempts came to a close, it was gathered that 13 bodies had been recovered from the rubble.
“Rescuers have finished excavating the rubble. In total, 13 people died, including three children, while 19 people were injured,” according to the ministry of emergency situations, quoted by Russian agencies.
The crew of the Sukhoi Su-34 managed to eject before the plane crashed, according to the defence ministry.
“While climbing to perform a training flight from the military airfield of the southern military district, a Su-34 aircraft crashed,” a ministry statement said. “The cause of the crash of the aircraft was a fire in one of the engines during takeoff.”
The area had been blocked off, according to a local named Oksana who declined to disclose her last name.
“There could be an explosion. Everything is burning inside. There is smoke,” she told newsmen.
“I’m in shock obviously. My child was alone at home. We already used to go to sleep with fear every day — Mariupol is just across from us,” she said, referring to the nearby Ukrainian port besieged earlier this year by Russian forces, and now occupied by Moscow.
In a yellow light, a burned-out car and pieces of the Sukhoi fighter jet’s debris can be seen adjacent to a damaged apartment building in the Russian city of Yeysk.
The collision started a huge fire that disintegrated the building and neighboring cars that were parked.
As loud explosions from the alleged detonation of the warplane’s weaponry were heard, firefighters fought the fire.
According to emergency personnel, the apartment building had five stories that were on fire, the upper floors had collapsed, and roughly 45 apartments had been destroyed.
