At least six people have died after a Russian plane on a fire-fighting mission crashed in Siberia, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday.
Rescue teams have found the bodies of four of the crew members from an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft that crashed in the Irkutsk Region on June 1 while taking part in operation to extinguish vast forest fires.
Considering the “scale of devastation,” it is assumed that there were no survivors, the emergency operations center stated, adding that the Emergency Ministry’s aircraft, which was equipped with water tanks, was almost completely burnt out, apart from its tail. The center confirmed that rescuers have found one of the plane’s black boxes. It is believed that the plane crashed into a mountain while in the midst of highly concentrated smoke coming from the fires below.
