Terrifying moment Russian cargo plane’s engine explodes shortly after take-off, leaving trail of fire as it dumps fuel
Dramatic video shows the moment a stricken Russian cargo plane exploded shortly after takeoff, leaving a trail of fire as the plane desperately dumped fuel.
The Tu-204 was shown in the sky this morning, followed by a long streak of bright orange as it jettisoned fuel before making an emergency landing at the airfield it took off from in Ulan-Ude, eastern Siberia.
The Aviastar aircraft is used to transport goods between China and Russia in the context of Western sanctions against Vladimir Putin's regime.
The plane was flying from Baikal Airport in Ulan-Ude to the Chinese city of Zhangzhou when the explosion sparked a fire in the left engine.
Alexey Tsydenov, head of the Buryatia region, said the plane dumped fuel before making an emergency landing using one engine.
Witness Lyubov Pichueva said after the events: 'I heard a powerful explosion coming from upstairs.
'At first I thought it was fireworks, but the sound was too strange. It was very scary.'
Stunning video showed a Tu-204 cargo plane on fire over Ulan-Ude, Siberia on December 7
Burning fuel follows the plane as it desperately tries to land after an engine fire today
Witnesses said they could see the plane dumping fuel as it tried to avoid a horrific disaster.
One said: 'It just burned very brightly. Something falls out… It dumps something.”
All five crew members on board managed to survive the terrifying ordeal as the plane landed safely at 8:30 a.m. local time (0:30 GMT) today.
An investigation is underway by the Public Prosecution Service for Eastern Siberia
Russia has suffered a spate of air safety problems and the country is the subject of a 'red flag' from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
In the first eight months of this year, 120 plane crashes involving civilian aircraft of Russian airlines occurred in Russia.
This is more than double the number in recent years, despite significantly fewer flights as a result of Putin's war against Ukraine.
Western sanctions have hit the supply of aircraft spare parts to Russia.
In October, a giant Russian military plane exploded in a fireball as it took off from a remote airbase 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.
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.
From another angle, the plane was shown earlier today looking for a place to land
The bright glow of the fire could be seen high above Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, in the early morning
Just minutes after taking off from an airport in Siberia, the plane's engine caught fire
And then in April, a Russian military plane burst into flames and crashed into a lake in a northwestern region of Russia bordering Finland.
The military plane crashed in the Murmansk region after catching fire, the TASS news agency said at the time.
The MIG-31 fighter plane, which was reportedly on a training flight, “crashed in an uninhabited area,” TASS quoted the ministry as saying.
The pilots were ejected, the agency added, and were found “alive and well” after the tragedy.
An eyewitness said the plane burst into flames upon takeoff. “The plane took off and everything was already on fire,” the witness told Readovka.