Russian Interior Ministry plane crashes

A Russian Interior Ministry plane with eleven crewmembers on board crashed several minutes after taking off in Yakutia in the Far East, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Sunday."All eleven people died in the air crash," a spokesman for the ministry's regional center said.

The spokesman said the plane, an Il-76 Candid strategic airlifter, bound for the city of Irkutsk, fell and caught fire about three kilometers (1.9 miles) from Mirny airport. Seven crew as well as four members from a replacement crew had been on board.Facilities on the ground were not damaged. An investigation is underway.

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