MI-8T helicopter missing in Russia… 22 people including crew were on board, feared to have met with an accident

In Russia, an Mi-8T helicopter went missing on Saturday in the Kamchatka Peninsula in the country’s Far East region, shortly after taking off. There were a total of 22 people on board the helicopter, including 3 crew members. News agency Interfax quoted Russia’s Air Transport Agency as saying in its report that the helicopter had taken off for Nikolaevka from a base located near the Vachkazhets volcano in the Kamchatka region. It is feared to have crashed.

According to Indian time, the helicopter was supposed to return to the base at 9.30 am, but it did not happen. Despite several attempts, contact with the crew members could not be established. According to the information, apart from the crew members, there were tourists on board the helicopter. Rescue workers have started searching for the missing helicopter. Let us tell you that Mi-8 is a two-engine helicopter designed in the 1960s, which is used extensively in Russia and neighboring countries.

More than 50 countries of the world use MI-8

For the first time, the Russian army used this helicopter in 1967. Its cost is 15 million dollars (125 crores rupees). MI-8T is one of the most used helicopters in the world. More than 50 countries including India, China, Iran use it for civil and military purposes. India first bought MI-8T helicopter from Russia (then Soviet Union) in 1971. After this, till 1988, a total of 107 MI-8T helicopters were bought by India for military use.

However, this helicopter has now become a victim of a lot of accidents. The Indian Army is phasing out its MI-8T helicopter fleet. Earlier on August 12, an MI-8 helicopter crashed in Kamchatka, carrying 16 people. The local emergency service said the helicopter, operated by the Vityaz-Aero company, landed hard near a lake in the south of the Kamchatka Peninsula with 13 passengers and three crew on board.

A few days ago, a MI-8T helicopter fell into a lake

The state news agency RIA had reported that the helicopter was carrying tourists from Moscow and St. Petersburg and crashed into the lake. The Kamchatka Peninsula is popular among tourists due to its natural beauty. It lies 6,000 km (3,728 miles) east of Moscow and about 2,000 km west of Alaska. There are about 160 volcanoes here and 29 of them are active.