An Ilyushin Il-76 military cargo plane crashed and caught fire while landing near Russia's western city of Ryazan on Friday, killing four of the nine people on board, the RIA news agency reported, citing local authorities.

Five people were hospitalised with injuries, RIA said.

The Interfax news agency separately quoted Russia's defence ministry as saying the plane had suffered an engine malfunction while on a training flight. The ministry gave no details of crew deaths. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Clarence Fernandez and Tom Hogue)