Helicopter with 22 aboard goes missing in Russia’s Kamchatka
A helicopter carrying 22 people has reportedly gone missing in Russia's Far East region of Kamchatka.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on Telegram on Saturday that they lost contact with a Mi-8 helicopter around 16:15 local time (04:15 GMT).
He went on to say that the helicopter had 19 passengers -- most of them tourists-- and three crew members on board, adding that the aircraft had just taken off near the Vachkazhets ancient volcano in the Kamchatka peninsula and was traveling to the village of Nikolayevka further east about 25km away.
According to regional authorities, rescue teams, including helicopters, are continuing their search through the night, focusing on a river valley where the helicopter was scheduled to fly to reach its destination. However, poor visibility due to local weather conditions is hampering their search efforts.
The local weather service also said the helicopter disappeared from radar almost immediately after taking off which could have been due to poor visibility in the area around the time of the disappearance, adding that the crew did not report any problems or issue any distress signals before losing contact.
Accidents involving planes and helicopters are frequent in Russia’s far eastern region, which is sparsely populated and where there is often harsh weather.
Kamchatka peninsula is popular among tourists for its nature. It is more than 6,000 km (3,728 miles) east of Moscow and about 2,000 km west of Alaska.
In August 2021, a Mi-8 helicopter with 16 people on board, including 13 tourists, crashed into a lake in Kamchatka, killing eight due to poor visibility.
In July of the same year, a plane crashed during landing on the peninsula, leaving all 28 people on board dead, including 22 passengers and six crew members.
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