Russian Air Force Il-76 Crash

A Russian Air Force Il-76MD suffered an engine fire shortly after departing Ayni Air Base near Dushanbe, in Tajikistan, and turned back to the field, where it overran the runway on landing and burned out. All eight people aboard evacuated without injury and the aircraft was destroyed. Reports differed on whether a tyre failure or the engine fire began the sequence. Ayni hosts Russian aviation supporting the 201st Military Base, the largest Russian garrison outside its own territory. The Il-76 remains the mainstay of Russian military airlift, sustaining deployments across Central Asia, the Caucasus and Africa.