Su-24 flights suspended after warplane catches fire during take-off

The Defence Ministry said the incident happened at 00:38 Moscow time. The plane was about to make a training flight. It failed to take off and rolled off the runway. The fuel tanks were full and the plane caught fire. The two pilots ejected themselves from the ground, Itar-Tass informs.

"The pilots are in satisfactory conditions. They were taken to a medical facility of the unit, where they receive all necessary medical aid," the press service said.

There are no casualties or damages on the ground.

As the press-service of the Southern Regional Centre of the Emergency Situations Ministry has told Itar-Tass, the news of the incident reached the desk of the officer on duty at 01:15 Moscow time.

The Su-24 is a supersonic front-line bomber capable of dealing rocket and bomb strikes in bad weather round the clock from low altitudes. The military airdrome where the incident occurred is located three kilometres away southeast of Morozovsk.

A commission of the Southern military district is working at the place of the incident.