Friday, November 6th, 2009
Reports: Russian military plane crashes, 9 killed
MOSCOW - A Russian military plane crashed in the country's far east late Friday, killing all nine people aboard, news agencies reported.
An emergency ministry official said the Tu-142-M3 anti-submarine turboprop crashed in the Tatarsky Strait about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the Pacific coast, ITAR Tass reported.
The plane disappeared off radar screens shortly after 1100 GMT when it was finishing a training flight, the Interfax news agency quoted a Defence Ministry official as saying.
The official said the bodies of the crew and wreckage from the plane were removed from the water by emergency boats, the report said.
Tu-142-M3 is a maritime reconnaissance aircraft that was widely used by the Soviet navy.
