The Russian Emergencies Ministry announced on Sunday that 17 bodies and the hull of the Mi-8 helicopter that had been missing since Saturday in the Russian Far East with 22 people on board had been found.
The ministry said in a statement, “17 bodies were found,” noting that the search operations ended today, and would resume “at dawn on Monday” in the accident area.
The ministry published a video clip of the search operations, taken from a rescue helicopter flying over the volcanic area, showing the plane’s fuselage on the ground.
The Mi-8 helicopter disappeared from radar screens on Saturday in Kamchatka.
The first flight to the area to find the plane and the 22 passengers on board (19 passengers and three crew members) yielded nothing on Saturday, due to poor visibility according to the authorities, before the search resumed on Sunday.
A group of rescuers and two helicopters were urgently sent to the suspected site of the accident, which occurred on the volcanic Kamchatka Peninsula.
An investigation has been opened, the regional branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said Sunday. “The circumstances of the incident are being determined,” it said in a statement.
The Mi-8 is a Soviet-made military helicopter.
The volcanic Kamchatka Peninsula is famous for its picturesque nature. Tourists often fly over it by helicopter.
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