The incident comes days after a military jet crashed into a block of flats in the Russian town of Yeysk, killing more than a dozen people, including children.

“A Su category plane hit a two-storey building in Irkutsk on Przhevalskogo street,” governor Igor Kobzev said on social media, with the local department of the emergencies ministry clarifying that a “Su-30 aircraft crashed during a test flight”.

Kobzev later said that two pilots were killed in the crash but local residents were unharmed.

He posted a video of the building, which he described as a “private home for two families of 100 metres squared”, with smoke billowing against a dark sky.

Firefighters were seen at the scene, working to extinguish the fire that broke out after the crash.

Russia’s investigative committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement that it had launched a criminal case over the incident.