Russian Helicopter With 22 On Board Goes Missing

New Delhi: A Russian helicopter carrying three crew members and 19 passengers has gone missing in the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula of the country, according to preliminary reports from the federal air transport agency, as cited by Interfax news agency on Saturday.

The Mi-8T helicopter had departed from a base near the Vachkazhets volcano but failed to report in at the scheduled time of 04:00 GMT, news agency Reuters reported, according to India Today. The Mi-8, a two-engine helicopter designed in the 1960s, is extensively used in Russia and neighbouring countries.

Earlier on August 12, a Mi-8 helicopter with 16 people on board crashed in Russia’s Far East region of Kamchatka. The helicopter operated by Vityaz-Aero company with 13 passengers and three crew hard-landed near a lake on the south of Kamchatka peninsula, the local emergency service said.

The helicopter was carrying tourists from Moscow and St Petersburg, state news agency RIA reported, citing a source at the emergency service. RIA said the helicopter fell into the lake.

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