19 killed in Siberian helicopter crash
MOSCOW: Nineteen people were killed when a helicopter carrying oil and gas field workers crashed in a remote area of Siberia, investigators said yesterday.
The Mi-8 helicopter carrying 22 people, including three crew, crashed on Friday night in the farnorthern Yamalo-Nenetsky region.
Photos published by the Emergencies Ministry showed the helicopter broken into pieces and lying on snowy moorland close to woods.
Fog and poor visibility had hindered the search for the crash site, as well as the rescue operation, according to the ministry.
The victims died from multiple injuries at the scene, while three injured were taken to hospital, said a statement by the Investigative Committee, Rescuers in the Yamalo-Nenetsky region near which probes major incidents.
President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the relatives and loved ones of the victims, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The helicopter was flying from an oil and gas field in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk to the small settlement of Urengoi when it crashed between 1400 and 1500GMT.
A second helicopter went to the scene carrying rescuers and medics after the crash and located the stricken aircraft.
Colonel Dmitry Alexandrov of the Emergencies Ministry in the Yamalo-Nenetsky region said in televised comments that the helicopter “fell on its right side, and the victims could not get out”. AFP
yesterday after it crashed on Friday. EPA pic