Two Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber jets crash in mid-air over Sea of Japan
- Two Sukhoi Su-34s crashed into each other over Strait of Tartary, Sea of Japan
- The fate of the crews on the two-seater fighter-bomber jets is still unknown
- The pilots are reported to have ejected, and a rescue mission is underway
Two Russian fighter-bomber jets have collided mid-air over the Sea of Japan during a training exercise.
The Sukhoi Su-34s accidentally crashed into each other while flying over the Strait of Tartary in Russia’s Far East.
The fate of the crews of the two-seater planes are still unknown, but the pilots are reported to have ejected on impact.
Crash: The Sukhoi Su-34s collided mid-air while flying over the Strait of Tartary in the Sea of Japan in Russia’s Far East during a training mission (file photo)
‘According to preliminary data, the emergency occurred over the Tatar Strait.,’ a local law enforcement source told Russian state news agency TASS.
‘Two Su-34 jets vanished from radar screens close to the inhabited community of Nelma in Sovetsko-Gavansky District. They presumably collided mid-air.’
The Russian Air Force have launched a rescue operation to find the crews, who are likely to have landed in the freezing water.
This is not the first time Russia’s Su-34 jets have been involved in an accident.
In June, 2015, an Su-34 bomber crashed after a routine training flight in Russia’s Voronezh region.
Search and rescue: The pilots of the two-seater fighter-bomber jets are reported to have ejected on impact but their fate is still unknown
The plane’s parachute failed to open after landing and the plane skidded off the runway. The plane overturned, but none of the crew was hurt.
The Sukhoi Su-34 is a Russian Air Force twin-engine, twin-seat, supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber aircraft.
It has a range of 680 miles at low altitude and a max speed of 1,200mph.
The fighter jets were also part of the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War.