MIG-31 catches fire at Russian air base

Two pilots were injured when a MIG-31 airplane caught fire on landing at a Russian airbase near here, Russian Air Force sources said on Wednesday.

‘‘The crew members sustained injuries after bailing out at the last moment from the plane, which was destroyed,’’ he said. The MIG-31 interceptor based at Khotilovo airbase in Tver region was on a routine medium-level flight. During the landing run, both its engines caught fire. ‘‘On the orders of the ground control the crew ejected at ‘zero’ altitude. The plane went away from the runway and burst into flames,’’ Russian Air Force spokesman Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said. The crew sustained multiple injuries and are hospitalised.

MIG-31 is an all-weather air defence fighter-interceptor designed in the 1970s to intercept all types of aerial targets, including small cruise missiles and high altitude supersonic aircraft.