A helicopter that went missing in Russia’s far east was found at an altitude of 900 metres near the place where it was last contacted, and the bodies of 17 people on board were recovered and the search for other missing members out of 22 was continuing, officials said on Sunday (September 1). All those on board are presumed to have died, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said, citing the Emergencies Ministry.
The helicopter had likely crashed due to poor visibility in bad weather conditions, the Ministry said.
“The wreckage of the previously missing helicopter was discovered from the air. It is located at an altitude of 900 metres near the place where it was last contacted,” the emergencies ministry wrote on Telegram.
The Mi-8 helicopter took off close to the Vachkazhets volcano in the Kamchatka region on Saturday but did not arrive at its destination as scheduled, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency earlier said in a statement.
It said it believed that 19 passengers and three crew members were on board. The Mi-8 is a two-engine helicopter designed in the 1960s. It is widely used in Russia, where crashes have been frequent, as well as in neighboring countries and many other nations.
(With AP inputs)
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