16 dead in plane crash with paratroopers

The plane, made in the Czech Republic and type L-410, crashed about 20 minutes after takeoff, according to local authorities, who say that the crew detected an engine failure.

“Six people were rescued, 16 showed no signs of life”Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry reported in the Telegram messaging app.

The device belonged to a local club of the paramilitary organization DOSAAF, the benevolent aid society for the army, air force and navy, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

DOSAAF is the heir to the Military and Scientific Society created in 1920 by the USSR to popularize military knowledge among the Soviets, especially in the aerospace field, and to strengthen patriotic values.

Today, the company’s flying clubs all over Russia, like the one in Menzelinsk, are still used for the training of cosmonauts.

“There was nothing wrong with the Menzelinsk flying club, we are the best, cosmonauts train here”, said the head of the local branch of DOSAAF, Ravil Nurmekhametov, quoted by the official agency. TASS.

Only the six paratroopers seated in the back and wearing helmets survivedthe instructor of the local aerospace club, Oleg Chiporov, told the TASS agency.

“A paratrooper just got bruised and got off the plane on his own,” he said.

All of the survivors were hospitalized and one is “in serious condition”, according to RIA Novosti, citing a source from the local health ministry.

The accident was caused by an engine failure, said Tatarstan chief Rustam Minnikhanov, who attended the scene.

“While they were 70 meters above sea level, the pilots reported that an engine on the left had stopped working and called for an emergency landing,” he said on the public channel Rossia 24.

Segun Minnikhanov, the crew attempted to move away from nearby towns to land, “but apparently the altitude did not allow it”.

One of the plane’s wings landed on a truck and knocked it over, he said.

An investigation has been opened for violation of the rules of safety and operation of air transport, according to the Russian commission of inquiry.

Russia has dramatically improved aviation safety since the 2000s, but crashes are still common, especially in sparsely populated areas like the Far East.