Russia accuses jet crash into apartment of ‘malfunction’

Moscow: Russia said on Tuesday (October 18) it had a technical glitch crashed a military plane The day before, more than a dozen people were killed when they broke into a residential building near Ukraine, causing an uproar among locals.

The crash late Monday caused towering flames in a Soviet-style housing block, but by morning rescue workers had cleared the charred debris and grieving locals were leaving flowers at the memorial.

Authorities reported on Tuesday that a Sukhoi Su-34 aircraft crashed from the Russian-held Ukrainian port of Mariupol into a building in Yeysk, located in a narrow section of the Sea of ​​Azov, resulting in the 15th fatality.

A resident of Eysk told state-run television channel Rossiya-24 that two of his friends, who had recently purchased an apartment in the building, had died.

“They just took out a mortgage. We are in mourning,” she said.

Local officials said 19 people were injured, including four seriously injured, including a five-year-old girl and a teenage boy.

Investigators said they were interrogating a pilot who managed to parachute out of the plane before it crashed into the nine-story building and was engulfed in flames.

Amateur footage on social media showed locals running up to one of the pilots, who was lying on the ground with his parachute still attached.

The southern seaside town was in shock.

Local Natalia Kush told state media that she saw the pilot jump out of the jet through her window.

“Awful noise”

“I heard a terrible explosion. I looked out and saw the pilot flying right next to me.”

The Commission of Inquiry, which investigates serious crimes, said it had opened a criminal investigation into flight safety violations.

“The pilot who escaped successfully and the airfield personnel are being questioned,” investigators said.

It also said it “seized a fuel sample at the departure airfield” and “seized a flight recorder at the crash site”.

Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday that a jet plane crashed into a block housing about 600 people during a training flight.

Veniamin Kondratiev, governor of Krasnodar Territory, which includes Yeysk, said there will be a three-day mourning period in the region.

He said the building’s occupants have been placed in temporary accommodation and are receiving psychological help.

Meanwhile, locals had left flowers and children’s toys at a makeshift memorial near the building. There was a chalkboard that read, “Yesk. October 17, 2022. We remember. We mourn.”