MOSCOW (AP) — Russian prosecutors say they have opened a probe into the crash of a military jet that killed its two pilots.
The crew died when their MiG-29 fighter jet went down Thursday during a training mission in the Astrakhan region, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Moscow.
The Military Prosecutor’s office said Friday it had launched a probe to check whether safety rules were properly observed in preparation for the flight.
The Defense Ministry said the air force has grounded its MiG-29 fleet pending investigation.
The twin-engined MiG-29 has been a mainstay of the Soviet and Russian air force since the 1980s.
An earlier check of the fleet conducted after two MiG-29 crashes in 2008 revealed that many of the jets were unsafe to fly because of corrosion and needed costly repairs.
