Sharjah 24 – AFP: Two pilots were killed after a Russian jet conducting a test flight crashed Sunday into a two-storey house in the city of Irkutsk in southern Siberia, the regional governor said.
The incident comes days after a military jet crashed into a block of flats in the Russian town of Yeysk near Ukraine, killing more than a dozen people, including children.
"A Su category plane hit a two-storey building in Irkutsk on Przhevalskogo street," governor Igor Kobzev said on social media.
The local department of the emergencies ministry clarified that a "Su-30 aircraft crashed during a test flight".
Kobzev later said two pilots were killed in the crash but residents were unharmed.
He posted a video of the building, which he described as a "private home for two families of 100 metres squared”, with smoke billowing against a dark sky.
At least a dozen firefighters were seen at the scene, working to extinguish the fire that broke out after the crash.
By around 1300 GMT the fire was contained, according to the emergencies ministry, which said the blaze had engulfed an area of 200 metres squared in size.
Russia's investigative committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement it had launched a criminal case over the incident.
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