Holidays have turned into a tragedy in Russia. A helicopter with 16 people on board, including 13 tourists, crashed into a lake on Thursday on the volcanic Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East. There are at least nine survivors.
The helicopter fell in Lake Kuril in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, the local government said. “There were 3 crew members and 13 passengers on board” including a child. Forty rescuers from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and divers were dispatched to the scene, according to the same source.
The fate of seven people still uncertain
“Nine people survived,” Acting Local Health Minister Marina Volkova told the official TASS news agency. These are seven passengers and two pilots, according to sources within the emergency services. The fate of the remaining seven people was not immediately known, the search and rescue operation continuing according to the authorities. According to rescuers quoted by TASS, the helicopter sank after the crash and is currently at a depth of 100 meters.
An investigation for violation of air safety and operating rules has been opened, announced the Russian Investigation Committee, responsible for the main investigations in the country. The Mi-8 helicopter of the local company Vitiaz-Aero was supposed to transport tourists on board to Khodutka, one of the volcanoes surrounding the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamtchatsky, according to the local branch of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. . Soviet in design, this type of helicopter was manufactured between the 1960s and 1991. They can carry up to 24 people.