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Baikal region launches investigation in Mi-8 emergency landing

A committee of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations headed by the commander of the Russian emergency aviation Sergei Fyodorov arrived in Chita for the investigation

ULAN-UDE, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— The Baikal Region launched an investigation into an emergency landing, which a helicopter Mi-8 had made in the Kyra district on Sunday. A committee of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations headed by the commander of the Russian emergency aviation Sergei Fyodorov arrived in Chita for the investigation.

“The helicopter was damaged in a tough landing in the woody highlands about 100 kilometers away from Kyra,” Fyodorov told a press briefing in Chita. However, he noted “the qualified actions,” which the helicopter crew and the rescue team had taken. “There are several theories of the emergency landing, the final theory will be made public after the investigation,” he said.

“The helicopter, which crash landed, is lying on its side,” said a helicopter commander Alexander Andronov, who evacuated the crew from the crashed helicopter. He also noted a difficult nighttime landing on a little plain in the rugged terrain. To help the crew from the crashed helicopter Andronov’s crew examined the landing site thrice and landed the helicopter only after that.

The regional emergency situation service confirmed at a press briefing that the crew and passengers from the crash landed Mi-8 helicopter got no severe wounds.

The emergency helicopter Mi-8 has made an emergency landing in the Baikal Region on October 9. The helicopter was carrying three crewmen and four staffers of the aerial forest protection service. Mi-8, which was patrolling and extinguishing the fires in the region, where the emergency is in effect since October 3, failed to get on the line at the scheduled time on Sunday. The helicopter was reported missing in the Kyra district in the Baikal Region. Then the helicopter’s location was detected near the town of Altan not far from the Mongolian border thanks to the emergency position-indicating radio beacon, which set off several times.

Despite the nighttime another helicopter Mi-8 was dispatched to search for the missing helicopter and the ground search was launched. The search operation involved 15 machines and 113 people, including firemen, policemen, staffers from the aerial forest protection service, officials from the Kyra district authorities and other agencies. The search operation was complicated by the fact that the helicopter disappeared from the radar screens in the hard-to-reach taiga. The helicopter Mi-8 was found from the air at 5.09 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday. The Mi-8 crew and passengers were already brought at about 6.30 p.m. Moscow time to Chita.