Russian firefighting plane disappears in Siberia

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FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, Sept. 27, 2002, an Il-76 jet releases clouds of fire-retardant chemicals during joint exercises of fire and rescue workers in Noginsk, some 68 kilometers (42 miles) east of Moscow, Russia. Russia\'s Emergencies Ministry said one of its firefighting planes with a crew of 10 has gone missing in Siberia. The ministry said the Il-76 plane disappeared Friday, July 1, 2016, while on a mission to fight forest fires in the Irkutsk region. The plane in this photo is the same model but not the one which went missing.(AP Photo/Maxim Marmur, File)

MOSCOW – Russia’s Emergencies Ministry says one of its firefighting planes with a crew of 10 is missing in Siberia.

The ministry said the Il-76 plane disappeared Friday while on a mission to fight forest fires in the Irkutsk region. It said that seven aircraft have been searching for the plane, which went missing in the Bayandayevsky district near Lake Baikal.

Officials said the crew hadn’t reported any problems before disappearing.

Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said the search was complicated by heavy smoke from forest fires.

The plane that disappeared is a firefighting version of the Il-76 four-engined heavy transport plane, capable of carrying 42,000 litres (11,000 gallons) of water.

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