News Feed

Second Mi-8 helicopter goes missing within a week in Russia

2 min read
Russian Mi-8 helicopter with six people on board has gone missing on Sep. 3, 2024.
Illustrative purposes only: A Russian Mi-8 military helicopter flies over a joint Russian and Turkish convoy (not pictured) as it patrols oil fields near the town of al-Qahtaniyah, Syria. Feb. 4, 2021. (Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter with six people on board went missing on Sep. 3 in Russia's Irkutsk Oblast, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported.

Communication with the helicopter en route from Irkutsk to Orlyk was lost on the border of the Republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast.

Later in the day, Alexey Tsydenov, the head of the Republic of Buryatia, claimed on his Telegram channel that the Mi-8 made a hard landing on the border of Buryatia, 85 kilometers (52 miles) from the city of Irkutsk.

There were two medics and the crew on board. Two people suffered minor injuries, according to Tsydenov.

The search and rescue operation was ongoing in the region at 11 a.m. local time.

Another Russian Mi-8 helicopter went missing on Aug. 31 with 22 passengers on board in the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. A day later, the wreckage of a missing Russian helicopter was located, with no survivors found.

Russia's aviation industry has been hit hard by Western sanctions introduced in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and multiple incidents involving equipment malfunction on civilian airplanes have been reported.

Avatar
Kateryna Hodunova

News Editor

Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. Kateryna covered the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was included in the Special Mentions list at the AIPS Sport Media Awards. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Read more
News Feed

‌‌‌Earlier this year, the Kyiv Independent launched its “How to Help Ukraine” newsletter — a membership benefit created in direct response to our community’s requests for more ways to help Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion. ‌‌In the first six months since the newsletter’s launch, our community has raised over $105,300, according to the organizations we featured. ‌‌

Show More