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Rescued Russian adventurer Sergey Ananov expected in Ottawa on Thursday — embassy

Sergey Ananov crashed while making a solo helicopter flight from North America to Greenland across the Davis Strait
Canadian capital of Ottawa EPA/STEPHEN MORRISON
Canadian capital of Ottawa
© EPA/STEPHEN MORRISON

OTTAWA, July 29. /TASS/. Russian adventurer Sergey Ananov, whose helicopter crashed by the eastern shores of Canada last Saturday, will take a flight from Iqaluit to Ottawa on Thursday, press secretary of the Russian embassy Kirill Kalinin said on Wednesday.

"Sergey has already bought a ticket to flight to Ottawa, and he will arrive in the Canadian capital city on Thursday," the press secretary said. "We shall meet him and will help to buy an air ticket to Moscow."

The diplomat added the "embassy will also assist Ananov in obtaining necessary papers to return home, as during the crash he lost all the papers."

Sergey Ananov, who a while ago left an airfield near Moscow at the controls of a tiny helicopter in a daring attempt to circumnavigate the globe, had crashed. Though near to success, he spent two days on an ice floe, the greatest challenges to his life being the cold and polar bears.

The Canadian coast guard vessel Pierre Radisson, on its way to Iqaluit, took the adventurer on board. Ananov left Iqaluit for Nuuk, Greenland, aboard a Robinson 22 light helicopter on Saturday, facing an emergency on the route shortly afterwards. "One of the two belts that drive the air screws failed and the helicopter was no longer able to proceed with horizontal flight," he said.

"I had to make an emergency landing on the water, falling short of the nearest ice floe. The life raft was the sole item I managed to take out. The helicopter sank in 30 seconds."

He recalled swimming to the ice floe half-naked, "wearing only the lower part of my rescue suit: piloting the helicopter in full rescue gear is practically impossible," he said. "Then I spent two days struggling for life, my greatest challenges being the chill and polar bears." He was spotted by rescuers, lifted aboard and given first aid.

Ananov began his ambitious air journey round the globe on June 13. "It was going to be the world’s first flight on board such a light helicopter. Its mass is less than one ton. And I was all alone," the pilot told TASS.

"The flight from Iqaluit was one of the last phases. My next stopovers would have been Greenland, and then Moscow. Of the expected 38,000 kilometers, I made 34,000. Unfortunately, I quit for technical reasons."

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