Languages

16 presumed dead in helicopter crash

Search for passengers still continues at the helicopter crash site.

At least 16 people are presumed dead and two others were wounded when a helicopter carrying top regional officials and senior company officials from Apatit crashed in a lake south of Murmansk on Saturday.

Location

June 2 is announced to be a day of mourning in Murmansk Oblast. So far 14 bodies have been brought up from the Mi-8 helicopter that crashed in bad weather conditions into lake Munozero in the southern parts of the Kola Peninsula late Saturday evening.

The helicopter was first believed to have been carrying 17 or 18 men – 5 crew members and the rest passengers, but according to RIA Novosti the number could have been 19. Two men were found alive by local fishermen who witnessed the accidents and were brought to hospital.

Vice Governor of Murmansk Oblast Sergey Skomorokhov, Regional Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Aleksey Smirnov and his deputy Aleksander Alkhimchikov, General Director of the major phosphate refining company Apatit Aleksey Grigoryev and his deputy Konstantin Nikitin were amongst the passengers presumed dead in the accident, B-port reports.   

“To my deepest regret the information about our colleagues being aboard the crashed helicopter has been confirmed”, Acting Governor of Murmansk Oblast Marina Kovtun says in a press release. “The tragedy has taken from us highly classified specialists, professionals, fantastic people – to make up for the losses is impossible!”

The object of the helicopter ride was to study the potential for ecologic tourism in the area, Phosagro writes in a press release. Apatit, a daughter company of Phosagro, owns several tourism facilities in the area, including the ski resort Big Wood in Kirovsk, where three of the helicopter passengers were employed.

The Mi-8 helicopter belonged to the company SPARK Avia and is said to have been new and in good condition.