Mi-8 crash in Siberia leaves four in hospital

Published: 8/5/1999

The Russian press has reported an accident involving a Mi-8 helicopter near Irkutsk. The newspaper, Vostochno-Sibirskaya Pravda, reports that on August 3rd an Mi-8 of Tayshet Airlines took off from a village called Oktyabrsky on a firefighting mission with 15 people on board: 4 crew members and 11 firemen. After dropping the crew, the Bratsk ATC lost radio communication with the helicopter, which made an emergency landing in the vicinity of the village Chervyanka in the Chunsk region and caught fire. It is unclear what caused the emergency landing and fire and an investigation is under way, but the helicopter suffered damage to its main and tail rotors and boom according to the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who identified the helicopter as belonging to Nizhneudinsk Airlines. The four crewmen escaped and are being treated in the Bratsk regional hospital.

Article ID: 735