All five crew members aboard a Russian Mi-8 transport helicopter were killed when it crashed in the Khabarovsk region of the Russian Far East, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday.
The helicopter went missing on Monday while returning from repairs in the village of Chumikan to its base in Magadan via Okhotsk. It did not issue a distress signal and its emergency locator beacon failed to activate, officials said.
Search teams located the wreckage three days later on a mountainside 130 kilometers (81 miles) northeast of Okhotsk, according to transportation investigators.
Rescuers recovered the bodies of all five people on board, including three crew members and two engineers, investigators said.
Regional prosecutors said they launched a probe into the helicopter’s operator, the Magadan-based company Vzlyot.
A criminal investigation was opened into potential violations of air safety rules.
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