Tourist helicopter crashes near volcano, killing all 22 on board

A tourist helicopter that was carrying 22 passengers and crashed near a volcano over the weekend has been located in Russia's far east Kamchatka region, officials said Sunday.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said the bodies of 17 people have been found and that rescuers were continuing to search for the remaining occupants. 

The helicopter, which was operated by Vityaz-Aero, was carrying tourists, Russian news agencies TASS and Interfax said, with the rescue team stating yesterday that there were no survivors.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said, citing the Emergencies Ministry, that the helicopter had likely crashed due to poor visibility in bad weather conditions as rescuers spotted the remains of the chopper on Sunday morning in a hilly area.

'According to preliminary data, the cause was crew error. In conditions of poor visibility, the helicopter crashed into a hill,' a source from the Emergencies Ministry told TASS. 

The remains of a missing tourist helicopter carrying 22 passengers was found in Russia's far east Kamchatka region, officials said Sunday.

Russia's emergencies ministry said the bodies of 17 people have been found and that rescuers were continuing to search for the remaining occupants

The Mi-8 helicopter took off on Saturday but did not arrive at its destination as scheduled

The helicopter remains were found near a volcano in a hilly area on Sunday morning

The helicopter took off close to the Vachkazhets volcano in the Kamchatka region

The crew did not report any malfunctions to the aircraft, operational services said.

'The wreckage of the previously missing helicopter was discovered from the air. It is located at an altitude of 2,950ft near the place where it was last contacted,' the Emergencies Ministry wrote on Telegram. 

More than 60 specialists were deployed to look for the helicopter, alongside 15 units of search equipment, it added.

They were searching for the missing aircraft while a cyclone was in effect, with fog and rain causing disruption to their efforts. 

Aerial footage released by Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry showed helicopter debris lying on a slope near the top of a large, wooded hill

The Mi-8 helicopter took off close to the Vachkazhets volcano in the Kamchatka region on Saturday but did not arrive at its destination as scheduled, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency earlier said in a statement.

Rescuers arrived at the scene of the devastating crash 

The chopper was located in Russia's far east Kamchatka region, officials said Sunday

There were believed to have been 19 passengers and three crew members on board the chopper at the time of the crash

The agency said it believed that 19 passengers and three crew members were on board.

The Mi-8 is a two-engine helicopter designed in the 1960s. It is widely used in Russia, where crashes have been frequent, as well as in neighboring countries and many other nations.

Russian media describe Vityaz-Aero as one of the largest air carriers in the Kamchatka region. 

After a helicopter crash in 2021, in which eight people were killed, authorities banned the company from transporting passengers pending an investigation into a possible violation of flight safety rules.

Vityaz-Aero is the biggest of several local carriers which fly tourists to the Kronotsky reserve, a top tourist attraction that houses Russia's only geyser basin.

Kamchatka, a pristine peninsula with numerous volcanoes, is known for its rugged beauty and rich wildlife.