Baikal region launches investigation in Mi-8 emergency landing.

ULAN-UDE, October 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The Baikal Region launched an
investigation into an emergency landing, which a helicopter Mi-8 had made
in the Kyra district on Sunday. A committee of the Russian Ministry of
Emergency Situations headed by the commander of the Russian emergency
aviation Sergei Fyodorov arrived in Chita for the investigation.
"The helicopter was damaged in a tough landing in the woody highlands
about 100 kilometers away from Kyra," Fyodorov told a press briefing in
Chita. However, he noted "the qualified actions," which the helicopter
crew and the rescue team had taken. "There are several theories of the
emergency landing, the final theory will be made public after the
investigation," he said.
"The helicopter, which crash landed, is lying on its side," said a
helicopter commander Alexander Andronov, who evacuated the crew from the
crashed helicopter. He also noted a difficult nighttime landing on a
little plain in the rugged terrain. To help the crew from the crashed
helicopter Andronov's crew examined the landing site thrice and landed the
helicopter only after that.
The regional emergency situation service confirmed at a press briefing
that the crew and passengers from the crash landed Mi-8 helicopter got no
severe wounds.
The emergency helicopter Mi-8 has made an emergency landing in the
Baikal Region on October 9. The helicopter was carrying three crewmen and
four staffers of the aerial forest protection service. Mi-8, which was
patrolling and extinguishing the fires in the region, where the emergency
is in effect since October 3, failed to get on the line at the scheduled
time on Sunday. The helicopter was reported missing in the Kyra district
in the Baikal Region. Then the helicopter's location was detected near the
town of Altan not far from the Mongolian border thanks to the emergency
position-indicating radio beacon, which set off several times.
Despite the nighttime another helicopter Mi-8 was dispatched to search
for the missing helicopter and the ground search was launched. The search
operation involved 15 machines and 113 people, including firemen,
policemen, staffers from the aerial forest protection service, officials
from the Kyra district authorities and other agencies. The search
operation was complicated by the fact that the helicopter disappeared from
the radar screens in the hard-to-reach taiga. The helicopter Mi-8 was
found from the air at 5.09 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday. The Mi-8 crew and
passengers were already brought at about 6.30 p.m. Moscow time to Chita.