KYZYL, October 20. /TASS/. A plane and three helicopters once again took off at dawn to continue the search for a Mi-8 helicopter that went missing in the republic of Tyva, East Siberia, on October 10, spokesman for the regional crisis management centre of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations told Tass on Monday.

Thirteen teams will continue their round-the-clock search on the ground, Dmitry Kryzh said. He said on Sunday aircraft examined at least 3,000 square kilometers to no avail. More than 200 rescuers on snowmobiles examined more than 250 kilometers of mountainous terrain and taiga.

More than 36,500 square kilometers have been examined since October 10 when the helicopter of Tyva-Avia Airline with 12 people on board was lost. On Monday, they will examine another 3,000 square kilometers of the area where the helicopter could have crashed.

However, this is just half of a vast territory of the Todzha and Kaa-Hem districts where it is believed to have crashed. The search zone has rugged topography. Aircraft fly several times over these areas.

At the moment, the search and rescue operation involves 435 people assisted by 88 units of hardware, not only from Tyva but from other regions as well.

The radio contact with the helicopter was lost when it was on the way between the communities of Sorug and Kyzyl, located 270 kilometres away from each other.