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Seven dead bodies found at Mi-8 crash site in Murmansk region

Rescue operations at Lake Munozero, where the helicopter crashed and sank, involve 11 divers

MOSCOW, June 01 /ITAR-TASS/. Seven bodies of Mi-8 helicopter crash victims have been found at the crash site in Russia’s northwestern Murmansk region, five of them have been identifies, spokesman for the Russian Investigations Committee Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

Rescue operations at Lake Munozero, where the helicopter crashed and sank, involve 11 divers.

Earlier on Sunday, a spokesman for the Russian emergencies ministry’s national crisis management centre told Itar-Tass that the crash had killed seven people, nine were mission.

“As of 19:00 Moscow time, two persons were hospitalized, seven dead bodies were found, nine were mission,” the spokesman said.

The helicopter was owned by the company Apatit and operated by Spark Avia. It took off with 17 people onboard at about 15:00 Moscow time on May 31 to fly over the River Varzuga and Lake Munozero in the south of the Kola Peninsula to inspect tourist facilities under a contract between Apatit and the government of the Murmansk region. Radio contacts with the helicopter were lost at 20:21 and at about 00:30 a.m. on June 1 the helicopter crashed into Munozero Lake. Two persons survived, the rest died.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the rescue operations headquarters told Itar-Tass on Sunday Apatit director general Alexei Grigoryev was among the five identified crash victims.