MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry has reported the crash of an Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane carrying 65 captive Ukrainian servicemen and nine Russians in the Belgorod region.
"An Il-76 plane crashed in the Belgorod region at around 11 a.m. on January 24 while on a scheduled flight. It was transporting 65 captive servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the Belgorod region for an exchange, in addition to six crewmembers and three accompanying persons," the ministry said.
A commission of the Russian Aerospace Forces has gone to the scene of the crash to investigate the cause, the ministry said.
The Il-76 military transport plane is built to carry and deploy troops, cargo and military hardware from the air. It can carry 126 paratroopers with parachutes, 145 troops on a single deck and 225 troops on two decks. It has a maximum payload of 48 tonnes, a flight range of 4,750 kilometers with a 40-tonne payload, and a crew of seven.