A Mi-8 helicopter crashed in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region, killing 18 people on board. The helicopter collided with another helicopter during takeoff.
UTair’s Mi-8 helicopter 25640 was flying from Vankor to Kharkasale. During the take-off it struck cargo hanging from the landing gear of another Mi-8 helicopter,” said a spokesperson.
The occupants of the other helicopter were not injured.
“There were 18 people aboard the aircraft, including three crew members. All of them died,” the source in the regional emergency services said. A helicopter performed a hard landing in Siberia on Saturday morning, Russian Emergency Ministry’s department in the Krasnoyarsk region said.
“At 10:20 a.m. on August 4, 2018, a Mi-8 helicopter performed a hard landing in Turukhansk district 2 kilometers from the village of Igarka,” the statement read.
“The crash site has been found,” the source in the regional emergency services said, adding the aircraft fell apart and burst into flames. “A technical failure and a pilot’s error are regarded as the main possible causes of the crash,” the source added. The helicopter flew 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) before it crashed.
Первое видео с места крушения вертолета, где погибли 18 человек. Ми-8 рухнул при взлете, когда зацепился за подвеску другого вертолета pic.twitter.com/MWAKxkeXFP
— НТВ (@ntvru) August 4, 2018
“The Transportation Prosecutor’s Office for Western Siberia has opened an investigation into a possible violation of air transport safety regulations,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
Two “black boxes” have been pulled from the wreckage of the crashed helicopter that came down near a remote Siberian village on Saturday
“A cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder were found at the site of the Mi-8 helicopter crash,” the source in the regional emergency services said, adding their condition was unknown.
According to sources within law enforcement and emergency services cited by Russian media, before the crash, the aircraft’s propeller blades struck the outside cargo carried by another helicopter. The chopper was forced to ditch its load mid-air but was otherwise unaffected.
The Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the neglect of aircraft safety guidelines.
Появилось первое видео с места падения Ми-8 в Красноярском крае https://t.co/jphLEAH9NS pic.twitter.com/ZGZmjdUq57
— НТВ (@ntvru) August 4, 2018
