Russian strategic bomber plane crashes in Siberia on training exercise

MOSCOW, June 15 (Reuters) - ‌A Russian Tu-22M3 ​strategic ​bomber plane crashed on Monday in Siberia's Irkutsk region during a training flight, the Russian ‌Defence Ministry said, but the aircraft's four-person crew ⁠had managed to safely eject.

The Tu-22, which can carry hypersonic "Kinzhal" missiles ‌and is code-named "Backfire" by ‌NATO, is a Soviet-era supersonic bomber that Russia has since used for combat missions in Syria and Ukraine.

Unverified ​footage of the crash on social media showed a plane nose-diving into a thickly wooded area not ⁠far from the banks of the Angara river, producing a huge column of ​smoke.

"The crew ejected. There is no threat to the pilots' lives or health," the Interfax ​news agency cited the Defence ‌Ministry as saying. "There is no damage on the ground. The aircraft was flying without a ⁠combat load."

Irkutsk's governor, Igor Kobzev, said in a statement that the plane had crashed near the village of Kamenka. Fire ⁠crews were working to extinguish a blaze at the site, and ​all four crew members had been taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Kobzev said preliminary information indicated engine failure as the likely ‌cause of the crash.

The Tu-22M3, a modernised version of the original Tu-22 plane, can deliver ‌Kh-22 (AS-4 Kitchen) air-launched cruise missiles as well as the ⁠air-launched hypersonic Kinzhal "Dagger" missiles, ‌according to the ​Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Andrew Osborn and Tomasz ‌Janowski)

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