Crew of crashed helicopter in Russia’s Far East reportedly survives

Helicopter crashes in Russia’s Far EastAll people on board of a Mil Mi-8 helicopter, which earlier crash landed in Russia’s Far Eastern Khabarovsk Territory, were reported to have survived in the incident, a spokesman for the local forestry service said on Monday.

“The head of the Khabarovsk regional air traffic control service just managed to establish a contact with the helicopter,” the spokesman said. “The crew reported that they are alive.”

According to earlier reports, the helicopter with 17 people on board crash landed some 50km from the settlement of Chekunda in the Verkhnyaya Bureya district of the Khabarovsk Territory.

According to earlier reports, the helicopter with an approximate number of between 13 and 14 people on board crash landed some 50 kilometers from the local village of Chekunda in the Khabarovsk Territory.

Local law enforcers reported that the crashed Mi-8 was discovered burnt down on the ground by another aircraft in the air, which immediately reported about the crash scene and set off for fuel reloading.

The local department of the Emergencies Ministry reported that rescuers were dispatched to the crash scene but had not yet reached the crash site.

The helicopter carried airborne troopers involved in the elimination of forest fires, which are typical for the Russian Far East for this time of the year.

itar-tass.com