Twelve people, four of them journalists, were killed when a giant Russian Mi-26 helicopter fighting forest fires crashed in Siberia today.
Preliminary reports identified the dead as the seven helicopter crew members, an employee of the airbase in Chita, the region where the crash occurred, a reporter and cameraman working for Rossia television channel and two reporters for the weekly Ejenedelni Journal.
The helicopter burst into flames when it crashed and there were no survivors, ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the emergencies ministry as saying.
A rescue team has been sent to the area, located in southeastern Russia, near the border with Mongolia.
The Russian media gave varying reorts of the circumstances of the crash. A Rossia reporter quoted the emergencies ministry, which owned the helicopter, as saying the accident occurred when the craft emptied the contents of its water tank onto the burning forest. The tank, suspended under the helicopter sprang back up when it was emptied, hitting a propeller and destabilising the craft.
But Ria-Novosti quoted sources close to the ministry as saying the helicopter had hit a high-voltage power cable.
Fires are currently raging through 36,000 hectares of forest in Chita and more than 2,000 firefighters have been sent to combat the blazes.
AFP