Three pilots and one technician instructor were killed in the crash following the Mi-8 helicopter's forced landing, according to the report of the search and rescue team that arrived at the scene, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“The commission of the Russian Aerospace Forces High Command and the flight safety service of the Russian Armed Forces is about to fly to the scene of the helicopter crash in order to investigate into the circumstances of the crash,” the ministry’s press service said.
On February 8, the helicopter was making a routine training flight from an airfield in Ostrov, in the Pskov region; at 7:21 p.m., contact with the crew was lost, the ministry said.
“The Mi-8 made a forced landing in the wooded area, a few kilometers from the airfield,” it said.
A source with emergency agencies told Interfax about the Mi-8 crash landing in the region earlier.
“A Mi-8 helicopter was due to land at the airfield, 50 kilometers from Pskov, but for some reason, did not fly another several kilometers to the site, and made a crash landing,” the source said.
Another source familiar with the situation told Interfax that the air crash, which killed three crew members and an instructor, occurred near the village of Cherepyagino, Ostrov district, in the Pskov region.
“Four dead bodies have already been found,” he said.
Local military investigators are working at the scene.
The helicopter crash site has been sealed off.
