The Mi-2 helicopter, on board of which there were two people, could fall into a snow whirlwind and crash into snowdrifts near the village of Tchaikovsky, 80 km from Izhevsk in Udmurtia. This became known on Tuesday, December 28.
According to Izvestia’s source, the helicopter got into a vortex flow. At the same time, the low height helped to avoid severe damage. According to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the aircraft took off at 12:00 Moscow time from the Izhevsk airfield and circled the oil pipeline.
At about 14:00 Moscow time, the helicopter made a hard landing near Izhevsk. Immediately before the loss of communication with the helicopter, the aircraft commander reported an emergency. After the fall, the pilot was also able to get in touch and report the crash.
A ground group of rescuers using off-road vehicles, including two snowmobiles, set out to search for the helicopter’s emergency landing site. A Mi-8 helicopter with a paratrooper group took off from Perm. Unmanned aerial systems of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were involved (in total, 60 people and more than 20 pieces of equipment were involved in the search operation).
The Prime Minister of the Udmurt Republic, Yaroslav Semyonov, reported that three ambulance teams, including resuscitation, medical and paramedic, left for the helicopter’s hard landing site. He also confirmed that the helicopter crew was patrolling the main oil pipelines.
The rescuers were seriously hampered by the weather conditions – severe frost, but after a few hours they still managed to find the Mi-2. The pilot and the passenger were trapped in the mangled cockpit. They were taken out and handed over to doctors.
On Tuesday, December 28, the head of the republic, Alexander Brechalov, said that one crew member, presumably the pilot of the Mi-2 helicopter, had died while being examined by doctors. Another is in serious condition. The information was confirmed by the Republican Ministry of Health.
Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Viktor Zabolotsky, in an interview with Izvestia, noted that weather conditions could have caused an emergency on board and a helicopter crash. Taking into account the fact that the Mi-2 is not a new machine, discontinued in 1992, in difficult weather many problem situations could occur that lead to a fall, the specialist noted.
