By Our Reporter
Authorities have launched a search and rescue operation for a Mi-8T helicopter that went missing shortly after taking off with 22 people on board.
Kamchatka Krai governor Vladimir Solodov confirmed that the helicopter had 19 passengers and three crew members.
The crew did not make any distress calls or report issues before the helicopter disappeared.
According to local media, there was low visibility, drizzle, and fog in the Kamchatka region where the aircraft was flying, making it difficult to trace the chopper.
Following the disappearance, a search helicopter has been deployed to the last known location, and a ground rescue team is scouring the Bystraya River valley where the helicopter likely flew.
In other news, nine people, including two pilots, were feared dead after their plane heading to Bangkok crashed into a forest and caught fire in Thailand.
Seven tourists were travelling in a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan to the Trat province when the crash occurred into a mangrove forest in Chachoengsao at 3.18pm before bursting into flames.
The wreckage of the small plane was found in the mud in a mangrove forest at the site of the accident; women’s clothes and a photo of three foreign women were found at the site.
A resident of the area said he heard a loud explosion before running to the crash site, where he discovered fragments of the plane.
