Three victims are thought to have died after a plane exploded during a crash landing in Russia.

Horrifying footage shows an aircraft which appears to be on fire ark towards a wooded area and then disappear from view – before a huge plume of smoke and flames bursts from the scene.

The unverified clip shows the plane going down nose first as it flips onto its roof before landing.

Russian news agencies say the prototype military transport plane crashed while on a test flight outside Moscow.

The new light military transport plane, an Il-112V, slammed into a forested area as it was coming in to land at the Kubinka airfield about 28 miles west of Moscow, a spokesperson for Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation told Tass.

Interfax cited an anonymous source who said three people were on board – and all are feared to be dead.

It is far from an isolated incident in Russia, where there have been a number of plane crashes in recent months.