Search for Il-76 aircraft resumed in Irkutsk region

The search for Il-76 aircraft missing in the Irkutsk Region was resumed this morning, the press service of the Russian Emergency Ministry's local office said.

Technical fault and pilot error are the key versions of the incident with the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Il-76 aircraft in the Irkutsk Region, the chief of the Scientific Investigation Department of the East Siberian Transport Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee, Oleg Serebrennikov, said.

"Investigative bodies have organized a pre-investigation check over the failure to get in touch by the Il-76 plane. Two versions are considered: aircraft technical fault and pilot error. The versions are preliminary," TASS cited him as saying.

"The plane was in good condition, it passed all the required pre-flight procedures and it was technically faultless, the Deputy Minister Leonid Belyayev said.