MOSCOW, July 14 /TASS/. Two pilots of Russia's Tu-95MS strategic bomber that crashed in the far eastern Khabarovsk Territory, died, a Russian Defense Ministry source told TASS on Tuesday.
"A search and rescue group of the Eastern Military District has discovered the points of impact of the two crewmen of the Tu-95MS strike aircraft. Both pilots died. Reports from the crash site said the pilots had died while landing," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
It was earlier reported that the other five crewmembers of the aircraft had been delivered to the Khabarovsk aerodrome and their lives and health were not in danger.
The aircraft crashed in the Khabarovsk Territory in the Russian Far East during a training flight on Tuesday morning.
The flight was performed without an ammunition allowance. The plane crashed in a deserted area and there is no destruction on the ground.
Russia’s Defense Ministry suspended the flights of Tupolev Tu-95MS (NATO reporting name: Bear) strategic bombers.
The Defense Ministry’s press office said that a technical failure is the likely cause for the crash. A source told TASS that the strategic bomber crashed due to failure of all of its four engines.
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That was not the first incident recently involving the TU-95 strategic bomber. On June 8, the Tu-95MS aircraft skidded off runway in the Amur Region because of the burning engine. There was no ammunition on board. Several crew members sustained injuries of varying severity when leaving the plane and were taken to hospital.
On June 4, two accidents occurred in the Russian Air Force: the MiG-29 fighter jet crashed near the Ashuluk range, and in Voronezh the Su-34 bomber flipped over whilst landing. The pilots in both cases survived.
On July 3, the MiG-29 fighter jet crashed near Krasnodar, the pilot managed to eject, and on July 6 a Su-24 crashed in the Khabarovsk Territory, both pilots died.