Rescuers on Sunday said they had found 17 bodies after a helicopter crashed with 22 people aboard in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula in the far east.
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The helicopter went missing shortly after takeoff Saturday carrying 19 tourists and 3 crew, regional authorities said.

Kamchatka is a picturesque, wild region popular for adventure tourism due to its active volcanoes and pristine nature.

Rescuers spotted the remains of the helicopter on Sunday morning in a hilly area at a height of 900 metres, Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on Telegram.

Aerial video footage posted by Russia’s emergency situations ministry showed helicopter debris lying on a slope close to the top of a large wooded hill.
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The ministry said the aircraft was found close to the location where it went off the radar.

A ministry official, Ivan Lemikhov, said: “At this moment we have already found 17 bodies.”

“The rescuers have set up camp and the search has halted until daybreak,” he added.

The Mi-8 is a Soviet-designed military helicopter that is widely used for transport in Russia.

The helicopter that crashed was operated by a Kamchatka-based company called Vityaz-aero that organises flights for tourists, according to the emergencies ministry.
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Accidents involving planes and helicopters are very frequent in Russia’s far eastern region, which is sparsely populated and where many areas are only accessible by helicopter.

In August 2021, a Mi-8 helicopter with 16 people on board including 13 tourists crashed into a lake in Kamchatka due to poor visibility, killing eight.

In July the same year, a plane crashed as it came in to land on the peninsula, with 22 passengers and six crew aboard, all of whom were killed.
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