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Fifth body lifted from sunken wreckage of Mi-8 helicopter in Kamchatka

The helicopter carrying three crewmembers and 13 passengers crashed into a lake in Kamchatka on August 12, eight people were rescued

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, August 16. /TASS/. The fifth body has been lifted from the bottom of a lake in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, where a helicopter with tourists crashed on Thursday, the press service of the regional emergencies ministry department said on Monday.

"Work in the Mi-8 helicopter crash zone on the Kurile Lake continues. During a search effort conducted by deepwater submersibles of the Defense Minsitry and divers of the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Main Directorate in the Kamchatka Territory, the fifth body was lifted from the bottom of the Kurile Lake," the department said in a statement.

On August 12, a Mi-8 helicopter of the Vityaz-Aero Airline carrying three crewmembers and 13 passengers crashed into a lake in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka. Eight people were rescued, five found dead and three remained unaccounted for until recently.

The press service of the regional government said on Monday rescuers had found the bodies of the three missing persons inside the helicopter’s hull, but they are yet to be lifted to the surface.

"Yesterday, an attempt was made to get inside the helicopter. Special equipment <…> located three dead bodies and, presumably, a flight recorder. Rescuers will try to lift the back-opening door, so that a drone could get inside and remove bodies. Special equipment will also be brought to the scene in order to lift the black box," the press service said in a statement.