- Dramatic video shows a massive 72-ton II-76 transporter bursting into flames
- It is the second Russian-made II-76 aircraft to be blown up on a runway within a month
A giant Russian military plane exploded in a fireball as it took off from a remote air base carrying a mysterious cargo.
According to reports, the 164-foot Il-76 aircraft was on the runway when an engine burst into flames.
The plane rolled off the runway as the inferno spread, with dramatic video showing the scene of the 72-ton plane going up in flames.
The crew and any passengers escaped before the fire engulfed the colossal military transport ship, reports said.
It is believed there were eight on board carrying an unspecified military cargo.
According to reports, the 164-foot Il-76 aircraft was on the runway when an engine burst into flames
The plane rolled off the runway as the inferno spread, with dramatic video of the scene showing the 72-ton plane going up in flames (file photo)
Images showed the Russian Defense Ministry plane burning at the Ayni air base near the capital Dushanbe in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan. It is also known as Gissar Air Base.
According to reports on the Telegram channel, the aircraft’s registration number was initially not disclosed.
But the destroyed aircraft is believed to be the RF-86900, previously used to supply Putin’s war efforts via Belarus.
Details of the cargo were not disclosed “for wartime political reasons,” a source said.
He also said the plane may have belonged to Vladimir Putin’s elite Pskov airborne forces. They are said to have lost five Il-76s in attacks from Ukraine.
‘If it is the Pskov regiment, then it is a real disaster; we have already lost five,” he said.
The huge jet is the second Il-76 to explode on the runway in the past month.
In September, another Russian-made plane was filmed veering off a runway in Africa and exploding in a fireball, amid suspicions the plane was linked to the Wagner Army.
The ‘Russian-made’ Il-76 plane landed in Mali, but then flew off the runway and exploded
This is the dramatic moment the plane exploded in a huge fireball after crashing in Gao, Mali
The transporter burst into flames in Mali – where Wagner’s troops are based – just weeks after the private mercenary group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed in an exploding business jet near Moscow.
The Ilyushin was captured during the film landing in Gao, but failed to come to a stop and quickly turned into a raging inferno. It was reported that the plane’s Russian pilot had died.
Images show the stricken plane on fire with large plumes of black smoke billowing into the air.
Some reports had linked the flight to the controversial Wagner mercenary army operating in Mali and while this was denied, the possibility was left open that the paramilitary group was linked to the plane.
The footage apparently dispels reports that the plane was shot out of the sky by a man-portable air defense system.
Images show the stricken plane on fire with large plumes of black smoke billowing into the air
Dambiev’s pre-war Telegram channel said the crashed Il-76 was operated by a company from Belarus – a close Russian ally. The company is called Ruby Star Airways and has its headquarters in Minsk. In the photo: an Il-76 cargo plane of the Belarusian airline ‘Ruby Star’
It is clear that the plane landed too far down the 2,500-meter runway. It failed to brake within 500 meters, overshot the runway and exploded in a massive inferno.
Sources close to Wagner have denied that the Russian mercenary group was involved in the flight, even though their forces are active in the African country. It did not rule out the possibility that Wagner was linked to the plane.
The plane was used by the Malian military, according to the Gray Zone Telegram channel, which is close to Wagner.
“This aircraft, or rather the flight, was not carrying personnel from the Wagner group,” the channel said.
Previously it said: ‘There were no fighter planes or pilots from the Wagner group on board.’