Fighter jet crashes in Russia

A fighter jet crashed in Russia's far eastern Primorye Territory on Saturday, with the two crew members ejected safely, Russian News Agency (Ria Novosti) reported. The aircraft went down 26 kilometers from the Tsentralnaya Uglovaya airbase near Vladivostok, after taking off at 5:07 a.m. Moscow time from the Knevichy airfield. No-one on the ground was hurt. The Defense Ministry later said the aircraft had suffered a failure of one of its two engines before the crash. The aircraft had just been overhauled, according to one source. The MiG-31 is the fastest aircraft in operational service in the world. The Russian Air Force’s fleet of MiG-31s is currently in the midst of an upgrade to MiG-31BM standard.