An official of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says rescuers have found the bodies of four crew members who were aboard a firefighting airplane that crashed in the Irkutsk region.
The official, who was not identified, told TASS that the search continues for other missing members of the crew of 10 that was on the plane, which crashed on July 1 4 kilometers south of the Rybny Uyan settlement.
The Il-76 plane, equipped with an airborne spray tank, was helping to fight a forest fire in the region and was on its second flight of the day when flight controllers lost communication with it.
An official at the Emergency Situations Ministry told Interfax on July 2 the pilot of the plane may have lost orientation while flying through the thick smoke coming from the blaze.
