MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. Four people were killed in a helicopter crash in Russia’s Republic of Altai on Thursday, a local emergency official told TASS, citing latest data.

"Four people [were killed], and it turns out that two more people escaped from the wreckage on their own, while we thought they were under the debris. And they made it to a hospital themselves. <...> They sustained injuries of various severity," the official said.

Mikhail Maksimov, spokesman for the republic’s head, also confirmed the casualties to TASS.

The Mi-8 helicopter with 16 people on board crashed near the village of Tyungur in the republic’s Ust-Koksinsky District at about 3:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. GMT).

According to the Emergencies Ministry, four people were killed immediately, with another ten being wounded and two more people requiring no medical assistance. The incident left the villages of Tyungur and Kucherla with a combined population of some 2,000 people without electricity. The prosecutor’s office is conducting a probe into the air crash. The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation over violations of air traffic safety rules and rules for operating air transport.

Republic Head Oleg Khorokhordin personally is in control of recovery efforts in the aftermath of the helicopter crash.