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Illustration photo – MiG-31K armed with the Kinžal missile.
Moscow – A MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in the Murmansk region, which is located in the northwest of Russia. This was reported today by the Russian state agency TASS, citing local authorities. According to preliminary information, one of the aircraft's engines caught fire during the planned flight and the machine fell into the lake.
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“The pilots appear to have ejected. Witnesses say they saw two paratroopers in the area of the crash,” said a source in the Russian security forces. The crash happened approximately 10 kilometers from the city of Monchegorsk.
The Russian Ministry of Defense later confirmed the crash, saying the accident occurred during a training flight and the plane fell in an uninhabited area. “The pilots were quickly evacuated by a search and rescue helicopter, their lives and health are not in danger,” the Ministry of Defense said. According to the medical service, they are in a serious condition.
The MiG-31 was created in Soviet times as an interceptor fighter with a two-man crew, which was mainly intended to ensure that American reconnaissance and bomber planes did not penetrate over Siberia in the vast polar regions. Russia modernized these machines and modified some of them to carry Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, these were used in the war against Ukraine.
Russian MiG-31 fighter jets crashed several times last year – for example in December in the Primorsky Krai or last April in the Leningrad Region. In both cases, the pilots ejected and the machines fell in uninhabited areas, according to authorities. However, in October, a Russian Su-34 bomber crashed into a residential building in the southern Russian city of Yejsk, killing 16 people.
