KINSHASA — Rescue workers struggled Monday to reach the wreckage of a UN helicopter that crashed in the forests of eastern Congo with four Russian crew members aboard, a UN spokesman said.
The helicopter crashed Saturday on a thickly wooded mountainside about 30 kilometers west of the Bukavu airport, spokesman Biliaminou Alao said.
"The area is difficult to access; they're going to have to climb the mountain to get to the crash site," he said, adding that about 40 rescuers, accompanied by Congolese military, were trekking there on foot.
Russia's Foreign Ministry was not optimistic about the fate of the crew, saying in a statement that some experts estimated they had no real chance of surviving.
(Reuters)
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