Mon, Sep 11, 2006
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.
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