Fighter Jet Crashes in Kaliningrad Region During Training Flight

A Russian Su-30 fighter jet crashed in the western Kaliningrad region during a routine training flight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The two-member crew successfully ejected from the aircraft and was later found by a search and rescue team, the ministry said, adding that “there is no threat to the lives of the pilots.”

It added that the fighter jet crashed in an unpopulated area and was not carrying any weapons on board.

The cause of the incident was not immediately clear.

Some Russian news outlets reported that the Su-30 went down in an area surrounding the Chernyakhovsk naval airbase, a hub for the Russian Navy’s Baltic Sea Fleet.

An eyewitness video circulating on social media showed a fireball and a thick column of smoke rising in the air following the crash.

In the video, a group of men in military uniforms are seen standing at a cemetery, which is located east of the airbase, looking toward the site of the incident.

A similar military air crash took place in the Far Eastern Amur region late last month when six crew members on board a Russian bomber plane were killed.

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