Nuclear-capable Russian bomber crashes amid snowstorm: Defence Ministry

A nuclear-capable Tupolev-22M3 supersonic bomber crashed while trying to land in a snowstorm on Tuesday in Russia’s far north, the Defence Ministry said, saying the aircraft did not have any weapons on board.

Two of the plane’s four-man crew died in the crash and a third later died of his wounds in hospital, Russian news agencies reported. The fourth crew member survived.

The accident happened in Russia’s Murmansk region when the Soviet-era plane tried to land at an airbase near the city of Olenegorsk in a fierce snowstorm and amid high winds.

The plane broke up on the tarmac and caught fire.

The Defence Ministry said it was investigating all possibilities, including a technical fault.