MiG-31 crashes in Siberia, crew ejects - Defense Ministry
MOSCOW. Jan 25 (Interfax-AVN) - A Mikoyan MiG-31 fighter aircraft has crashed in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (the town of Kansk) while making a routine training flight, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.
"A fighter aircraft of an Air Force and Air Defense unit from the Central Military District lost control while on a training mission, and fell down in a wooded area, 40 kilometers northwest of the town of Kansk," the ministry said in a statement obtained by Interfax-AVN on Monday.
The crew ejected and made contact after landing, the ministry said.
"Preliminary data suggest that the MiG-31 fall was caused by a technical failure," the ministry said.
A special commission formed by the Ministry, which includes specialists from the Armed Forces aviation flight safety and the Aerospace Forces Central Command, has travelled to the scene to investigate the plane crash, the ministry said.
The MiG-31 crashed "outside a populated area," no one was hurt, according to the local emergency news portal.
MiG-31 is a two-seat, supersonic, all-weather, long-range fighter-interceptor.
The last air accident involving a MiG-31 occurred in Kamchatka Territory, on October 30, 2015. The plane had been returning to its air base after making a routine training flight when it disappeared from radar screens. Both pilots ejected and were evacuated to an airport in Yelizovo.