It would be a tragic accident.
Investigators announced on Tuesday that they were focusing on the "technical fault" track after the crash of a military plane in a residential building in Yeisk, in southern Russia and close to Ukraine, which killed at least 14 people this Monday.
"The investigation established that a technical defect of the plane was the main cause of the crash," said the Russian Investigation Committee, adding that the pilot, who managed to eject before the crash, was being questioned. by his services.
Flight recorders were recovered from the crash site and fuel samples were taken from the airfield from which the Sukhoi 34 bomber took off, the Investigation Committee also said on Telegram.
“The plane hit the building during its fall, which spilled fuel.
But there was no explosion, because the windows of neighboring buildings were not affected, ”said Aleksandr Kourenkov, Russian Minister for Emergency Situations, quoted by BBC Russian.
A criminal investigation has been opened and investigations are continuing: military investigators, criminologists and experts from the Russian Investigative Committee are currently working on the scene.
Impressive pictures
Images of the explosion and flames encompassing the entire facade of the building shocked Russia.
A video posted on social networks shows residents finding the pilot ejected on the ground near the building.
VIDEO.
Russia: Military plane crashes into apartment building killing at least 13
Asked if his plane had been shot down, still haggard, he replied: “No”.
Images of the wreckage showed the plane cut in half, the Russian military logo visible on one of its wings, with cables protruding from the engine.
The plane crashed Monday in a residential building where 600 people lived in this city of 90,000 inhabitants located opposite the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, devastated by a siege by Russian forces at the start of the conflict.
Authorities say four people, including a five-year-old girl and a teenager, are seriously injured and hospitalized in Krasnodar, the regional capital.
At least five floors of the building were charred, with a collapsed balcony and wrecked cars nearby.
The Russians left flowers and toys on Tuesday, in memory of the three children killed in the accident, in front of the building with a sign: “Yeisk.
10/17/2022.
We will remember.
We are in mourning.
“The president extends his deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this disaster,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.