Emergency services in the Russian city of Yeisk say at least four people were killed and six remain missing in the crash of a Russian military jet on October 17 near a residential building, engulfing the high-rise in flames.
According to preliminary data from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, at the end of the day Moscow time, four people were killed, 25 were injured, and six people were unaccounted for. The Sota online newspapers reported earlier that six had died and 27 had been wounded and said there were children among the victims.
Yeisk lies in the southwestern region of Krasnodar Krai bordering on Ukraine’s Russia-annexed Crimea.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the crash and said the pilots ejected and reported that the cause of the crash was a fire in one of the jet's engines during takeoff.
"At the site of the Sukhoi Su-34 crash, in the courtyard of a residential area, the aircraft's fuel caught fire," the ministry said.
Local residents, however, said on social media that explosions were heard after the plane crashed and caught fire, indicating that the aircraft's ammunition detonated.
Video distributed on social media suggested an explosion followed the crash, and the whole section of the residential building from the first to the ninth floor caught fire. The authenticity of the videos could not be verified.
According to emergency services quoted by Russian state-run agencies, the blaze reached five out of nine floors of the residential building.
The regional governor, Venyamin Kondratyev, said on Telegram that all fire and rescue units in the region were called to help extinguish the fire.
According to preliminary information, 17 apartments had been affected, Kondratyev said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed officials to provide all necessary assistance to the victims and ordered the governor of the Krasnodar region, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the minister of health to go to the crash site.
Russia's state Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal case and sent investigators to the scene.