A gold mining cooperative helicopter crash has reportedly killed two people in Siberia’s Irkutsk region some 6,300 kilometers east of Moscow.
The Robinson chopper presumably hit power lines and fell into a river near the town of Bodaybo, the regional Emergency Situations Ministry branch said. Rescuers spotted an oil stain near the shore, it said.
“Two people died, their bodies are currently being recovered,” the TASS news agency quoted a regional disaster center spokesperson as saying Monday.
The downed helicopter belonged to the Vitim gold mining cooperative, and had a pilot and an employee on board, according to the agency.
The salvage operation has been scheduled for Tuesday as soon as diving crews arrive from Irkutsk, Bodaybo mayor Yevgeny Yumashev told TASS.
