At least 74 die in Russian helicopter crash - reports
At least 74 Russian servicemen were killed when the world’s biggest helicopter crashed in Chechnya today, news agencies reported.
The giant Mi-26 helicopter went down near the Russian military headquarters at Khankala, not far from the Chechen capital Grozny.
Preliminary information indicated there were no deaths, the Russian military headquarters in Chechnya said.
However, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported that at least 80 soldiers were killed, citing sources at the headquarters.
Interfax later adjusted its toll to at least 74, saying 106 servicemen were aboard the helicopter and 32 survived, including the five crewmen. ITAR-Tass said 85 were killed.
Colonel Boris Podoprigora, the deputy commander of Russian troops in Chechnya, also said all five crew members survived and that 24 servicemen had been taken to hospital. He said it was not yet clear how many servicemen had been on board the helicopter, which is described as the largest troop transport helicopter in the world.
The head of the Defence Ministry press office, Nikolai Deryabin, told state television that the pilot had requested permission to perform an emergency landing because an engine was on fire.
Interfax said the helicopter was shot down by rebels, a claim repeated by the rebels on their website.
However, there were indications the helicopter may have been overloaded. The Mi-26 has capacity for 82 people, Podoprigora said, but Russian news agencies reported that at least 106 were aboard.
Fire and smoke from the crash hampered efforts to determine the full number of casualties, the military headquarters said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash.
The crash came amid a spate of rebel actions against federal forces, including attacks late last week in southwestern Chechnya that killed nine servicemen and five civilians. Some analysts surmised that rebels had intensified their actions to underline to the Russian government that it should enter peace negotiations.
The government maintains that the current war in Chechnya, launched in 1999, is all but over, with just isolated groups of rebels holding out. However, rebels unleash daily attacks that sap the military’s manpower and morale.
