Two killed in Russian helicopter crash
A civilian helicopter crashed today in far eastern Russia, killing at least two crew members.
The Mi-8 helicopter was flying from Nikolayevsk-on-Amur to the town of Bogorodskoye, when it crashed onto an ice-covered river, said Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov.
The helicopter was on a mission to pick up patients from a local hospital and only carried a crew of three at the moment when it crashed, Beltsov said.
At least two crew members died in the crash, he said. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crash.
Crashes of the Mi-8 – a workhorse helicopter used widely in civilian aviation as well as by the military – occur frequently in Russia and are often blamed on poor maintenance and excessive age.
