A private helicopter crashed on Kyiv’s Trukhaniv Island early on Sept. 6th, with two people being injured in the accident, Kyiv city police reported.
The crash victims were transported to a Kyiv hospital. The two male victims – the 62-year-old and 70-year-old pilots of the helicopter – were hospitalized with various injuries, including one man suffering a broken leg.
The helicopter – a Eurocopter EC145 – belongs to Yuriy Kosyuk, a Ukrainian billionaire and an owner of Myronivsky Hlibproduct, or MHP, one of Ukraine’s biggest agroholdings. His company controls 55 percent of the Ukrainian poultry market and exports chicken meat to 67 countries, including 17 states in the European Union.
Kosyuk, 50, was not in the aircraft.
The Eurocopter EC145 is a twin-engine light utility helicopter developed and manufactured by Eurocopter, which was rebranded as Airbus Helicopters in 2014. The aircraft costs from $3 million to $5.5 million.
The helicopter took off at round 7 a.m. and was in the air for about 40 seconds before it started losing altitude and ended up crashing onto trees on the island. According to the investigators, the trees cushioned the aircraft’s fall.
Four emergency vehicles and 20 members of the State Emergency Service attended the scene of the crash. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case on the incident.
