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Survivors in Mi-8 crash evacuated by air to Khabarovsk

In the area of crash continue the search rescuers and divers

KHABAROVSK, August 16. /TASS/. All the eleven people, who survived the crash of Mil Mi-8 in the Sea of Okhotsk - three crew members and eight passengers, were taken by a local airline's helicopters to Khabarovsk.

They were taken to the helicopter by boats. Boats took to the site divers and investigators, who had arrived from Khabarovsk, press service of the local branch of the emergencies ministry told TASS on Sunday.

In the area of crash continue the search rescuers and divers.

Mi-8 helicopter crash in Far East

On Saturday, reports said a Mil Mi-8 helicopter of the Vostok Aviation Company was making a flight between two settlements in the Far East’s Khabarovsk territory. It had on board three members of the crew and 13 passengers.

The helicopter was due to arrive in the final destination by 10:20 Moscow time, but the crew did not communicate in due course. Later reports said the helicopter crashed in the Onchagan Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk near the Shantar Islands. "Later on, the captain managed to communicate with the company and reported the helicopter crashed three kilometers to the destination and sunk," Russia’s aviation agency Rosaviatsia said.

Media reports said earlier in the day that top managers of the VTB Leasing, a top-20 leasing company in Europe, were on board the crashed helicopter. VTB’s press service said that Andrei Konoplev, the company’s director general, and his deputies have survived the crash.

The Shantar Islands are a group of fifteen islands located off the western shore of the Sea of Okhotsk. The archipelago amazes travellers by its unique wild nature. A tour to the islands in a group of ten people for 12 days costs about $9,000 per person.

An investigation is underway. Specialists have taken samples of fuel which the crashed helicopter used and documents related to the flight.