Officials Not Sure If Mi-8 Was Shot Down

Russian officials say it's too early to determine if a Mi-8 helicopter ferrying senior military officials in the North Caucasus region of that country was shot down Monday, resulting in the deaths of at least 10 servicepeople onboard.

Russia's Interfax news service said the victims include three senior officers. An air force spokesman said earlier five of the 15 persons onboard the helicopter (file photo of type, above) had survived the crash near the city of Vladikavkaz.

"Initial information is that there were 12 passengers and three crew on board the helicopter," Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky told Interfax. "Five servicemen have been found alive at the crash site. We are trying to establish what happened to the others."

Insurgent forces -- fighting against Moscow's rule of the troubled region, which also includes Chechnya -- have shot down Russian helicopters in the past.

"Rescuers and soldiers are at the scene. The helicopter came down in a hard-to-reach place," said a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry in North Ossetia, which includes the Vladikavkaz region.

As Aero-News reported, another Mi-8 -- this one flying for the government of Georgia --was brought down by enemy fire last week over South Ossetia. The helicopter was able to make a safe emergency landing in that incident.

The Russian government supports rebels in South Ossetia, who wish to rejoin Russia -- unlike those forces fighting against the government in Chechnya.

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ossetia-Alania