Search teams in Siberia have found the wreckage of an Ilyushin Il-76 transport which vanished while conducting firefighting operations in the Irkutsk region.
The aircraft has been destroyed, says the Russian emergency situations ministry, stating that it was discovered around 07:00 on 3 July.
It has displayed an aerial photograph of the crash site with only the vertical fin and horizontal stabiliser recognisable.
The ministry has not indicated whether there are any survivors among the 10 crew on board the jet when it disappeared on 1 July.
It states that the wreckage is located in the Kachugsky district in the southern part of the Irkutsk oblast.
The ministry says the aircraft was found on the slope of a hill, some 9km east-south-east of a village called Ribniy Uyan, by teams from the ministry’s specialised mobile rescue division Centrospas as well as the Russian aerial forestry protection service.
It adds that the area had previously been identified as a possible location for the Il-76, following consideration of the aircraft’s operational assignment before it disappeared.
Deputy emergency situations minister Leonid Belyaev says the jet has sustained a “high degree” of destruction, adding that further rescue resources are being sent to the crash site.
He says conditions remain difficult in the region, with visibility down to less than 100m as a result of smoke from wildfires.
The crew of the Il-76 was “experienced” and the aircraft was in “good condition”, says Belyaev.
Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee and the federal Investigative Committee are supporting the crash inquiry.
The Investigative Committee says the aircraft departed from an airport in the Usolsky district, in the far south of the Irkutsk oblast, at 10:19 on 1 July, in order to attend the Kachugsky wildfires. Contact was lost with the aircraft at 11:30.
Firefighting operations in the Kachugsky district have continued. The aerial fleet is supported by a pair of Beriev Be-200s from the emergency situations ministry.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
