A video has emerged of a Russian passenger airplane being crushed by a large crane, supposedly a form of sabotage from a former employee.
The video, shared to LiveLeak in February, shows an excavator tearing through the UTair plane’s aluminum body like a can opener.
The 30 second video begins with a yellow excavator raising its arm towards the Yah-40.
The bucket of the machine slices into the front of the airplane repeatedly, tearing a large hole near the cockpit.
The cryptic caption accompanying the footage says: “Pilot owed some money tractor driver,” and the aircraft is believed to be worth $6.6 million."
The story circulating on social media indicated the commercial airplane was destroyed in revenge by an irate former airport employee who was fired.
But users of the video sharing site were quick to speculate the story was a big fib.
Some LiveLeak users said the crane was demolishing of an old model of plane which had been pulled from use amid the airline’s reported financial troubles.
“UTair doesn't currently have any active Yak-40's in their fleet. I'm guessing these are defunct aircraft,” one commenter was quick to point out.
