Helicopter crash near volcano in Russia’s far east kills at least 17

A helicopter flying tourists near a volcano in Russia’s Far East crashed Saturday, killing at least 17 people, according to emergency officials who discovered the wreckage Sunday and state news agencies.

The helicopter was carrying 19 passengers and three crew members, the governor of the Kamchatka region, Vladimir Solodov, said Saturday on Telegram after the search began. He said it had taken off near the region’s Vachkazhets volcano — a tourist attraction in the remote Kamchatka Peninsula — and was heading toward the village of Nikolaevka.

On Sunday, Solodov said that the wreckage of the helicopter, an Mi-8, had been found and that “we are doing everything possible to get specialists to the scene as quickly as we can.”

A rescue team found the wreckage at an altitude of 900 meters, or almost 3,000 feet, not far from where the helicopter’s crew had last made contact, Russia’s ministry of emergencies said on Telegram.

The rescue crew found 17 bodies, the ministry reported. The emergency service told the state news agency Tass that, based on the condition of the wreckage, no survivors were expected.

The agency posted a photo and video on Telegram that showed shards of a helicopter lying on the side of a steep hill in a mountainous region.

Fast-changing, harsh and sub-Arctic weather often buffets the peninsula, and there was fog, drizzle and poor visibility in the area Saturday, according to the Kamchatka Department of Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. In 2021, another Mi-8 helicopter carrying tourists crashed into a deep volcanic crater lake in Kamchatka, killing eight people.

The region’s investigative agency covering transportation has opened an inquiry into possible violations of traffic safety and air transport rules in Saturday’s crash, it said in a statement. Tass reported that the company operating the helicopter, Vityaz-Aero, was reprimanded by authorities in 2021 over the crash into the Kamchatka crater lake.