The incident occurred on Thursday evening when an Il-76 Candid aircraft that was coming into land at Makhachkala airport in the capital of Daghestan collided with another Il-76, which was taking off. Four people were killed and five injured in the crash.
"As an empty Il-76 was taking off from Makhachkala airport, another Il-76, carrying service personnel, was landing. The landing aircraft clipped the cockpit of the Il-76 that was taking off with its wing. The cockpit caught fire. The fire was put out by fire fighters," an airport spokesman said on Thursday.
The Investigation Committee said that a criminal case had been opened into whether the crash had occurred as a result of pilot error.
A source in the Russian navigation service said those killed in the crash were crew members of the plane that was taking off, adding that all 31 passengers on board the second plane had survived.
"No other people except the crew were on board," said Colonel Vasily Panchenkov, the official spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry's troops.
"The airport is closed, prosecutors are working there, and the airport will not open until they have received instructions," an airport spokesman said.
The Il-76 is a cargo plane with a maximum takeoff weight of some 200 metric tons. The mid-haul aircraft can carry large cargo, equipment and vehicles.
