Tourist copter falls into icy Russia lake

MOSCOW — A helicopter carrying tourists plunged into a deep volcanic crater lake on the Kamchatka peninsula in far eastern Russia early Thursday, leaving eight people missing and feared dead.

The Mi-8 helicopter crashed and sank in Kurile Lake, which was formed in a volcano caldera and crater and is in the Kronotsky nature reserve. Another eight people who are known to have survived swam about 30 feet up to the lake’s surface from the sinking helicopter in water that was 41-42 degrees Fahrenheit, spokespeople for the reserve said.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said 13 tourists and three crew members were aboard the helicopter when it crashed in deep fog. Rangers in the nature reserve heard the sound of it hitting the lake and immediately rushed in boats to the crash site, reaching it minutes after the helicopter sank.

Two of the eight survivors were badly injured and have been taken to the intensive-care unit at a hospital, officials said. Officials said most of the tourists on the flight were from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Rescue teams searched the lake until dark and were set to resume the search this morning, but officials said the missing people likely got trapped in the sunken helicopter and died.

The Emergencies Ministry said that the sunken helicopter was found at a depth of 449 feet, about 2,296 feet away from the shore of the lake. Kurile Lake is up to 1,037 feet deep and covers an area of 30 square miles.