MOSCOW: A Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane, with three crew members on board, crashed in the Moscow Region on Friday while on a test flight, officials said.
The plane crashed in the Kolomna district, southeast of Moscow and emergency services were dispatched to the accident site, local authorities said, RT reported.
As per videos on social media, a plume of smoke was seen rising from the apparent crash scene. Others showed ambulance and firefighter crews rushing to the area. A helicopter could also be seen hovering nearby.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry said that the plane fell in a forested area. "There were three crew members on the plane. According to preliminary information, they all died. There are no casualties among the population," it said.
The plane, which belonged to Russian gas giant Gazprom, was undergoing repairs and had taken off as part of a test flight, officials said.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said that the incident would be investigated by the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) operating under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which includes several post-Soviet republics. Russian experts will also be involved, it added.
A regional jet designed by Russian aircraft company Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, a division of the United Aircraft Corporation, the Sukhoi Superjet's development began in 2000, and it made its maiden flight in May 2008 and its first commercial flight in April 2011. It has a capacity of around 100 people.
However, the operations of most of the aircraft in service with various Russian operators have been hampered by a shortage of spare parts due to the Western sanctions.
The aircraft has been involved in several crashes. The most recent one occurred in 2019 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, when a flight to the northern city of Murmansk, returning after being struck by lightning, crash-landed at the airport and caught fire, leaving 41 of the total passengers dead.