Russian Helo down

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 09-02-02 AT 05:46 AM (GMT)] via http://www.russiapost.com/

Seven dead in chopper crash
From AP
08feb02
A RUSSIAN military helicopter has crashed and exploded in Chechnya, killing seven people. It is the third such loss in less than two weeks for Russia’s demoralised military.
The Mi-8 helicopter, with 10 people on board, fell from the sky at a height of 50m shortly after takeoff near the Chechen capital, Grozny, the military command in Chechnya said.

The Interfax news agency quoted unidentified military sources as saying the crash was likely an accident, but an investigation was still under way.

The helicopter pilot, co-pilot and navigator survived and were in critical condition, Air Force spokesman Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky told Interfax Military News Agency.

Initial reports had said nine were killed in the crash.

Two doctors and five rescue workers died in the crash. They had been heading out to search for an Mi-24 helicopter missing since at the weekend.

That helicopter last contacted ground controllers on Sunday from an area about 15km south of Grozny.

A week ago, an Mi-8 helicopter flying over the breakaway region exploded after taking off, killing all 14 aboard including several high-ranking officers of Russia’s interior ministry. The cause hasn’t yet been determined, and there have been conflicting reports about whether a rebel attack or an accident is to blame.

President Vladimir Putin was immediately briefed on today’s crash, which happened just hours before Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of staff of the Russian military, arrived in Chechnya to evaluate the gruelling, two-year-old campaign.

Moscow has long claimed to have re-established control over Chechnya, but the Russian military has struggled to bring an end to the war there. Federal troops are still killed daily in attacks on Russian positions and in landmine explosions.

In the past 24 hours, federal outposts came under rebel fire 12 times, with two troops killed and four wounded, according to an official in the pro-Moscow Chechen administration.

afp photo

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