The crew managed to eject, Russia’s Defence Ministry said, after a Russian strategic bomber crashed in Siberia. One of the members died and the others are hospitalised.
A technical malfunction led to the crash of a Russian TU-22M3 strategic bomber in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. Bombers of this kind have been used in the war against Ukraine.
The regional governor Igor Kobzev, citing the defence ministry, said one person from the four member crew was dead. The others were in hospital with unspecified injuries. Videos circulated on social media show the plane catching fire mid-air.
Russia initially reported that the crew of the aircraft had managed parachuted to safety. The Defense Ministry had said “The plane crashed in an uninhabited area. There is no damage on the ground.”
However, Kobzev later confirmed that one of the members died and the others are under treatment.
“To my deep regret, one of the pilots could not be saved,” Kobzev said on Friday morning. He added that the surviving crew members were hospitalised with “injuries of varying severity.”
The governor has said that experts will determine the exact cause of the crash. But, it comes at a time when Russia appears on the backfoot with Ukrainian forces having crossed over into the Kursk region and occupied large swathes of it. At this time, fierce fighting is going on to eject the Ukrainians with the Russians deploying heavy weapons including artillery and calling in reserves.
What Is The Tu-22M3 Bomber?
The Tu-22M3 is a long-range strategic bomber designed and built by the aircraft maker Tupolev. It is designed to destroy sea- and ground-based targets with guided missiles and aerial bombs. The NATO codename for it is Backfire.
(With inputs from Reuters)
