The Volga Transport Office of the Investigative Committee has opened an investigation in violation of safety standards for aircraft traffic and operation entailing death of two or more people by negligence under part 3 of Article 263 of the RF Penal Code after three people were killed in a Robinson helicopter crash in Bashkortostan.
It has been revealed, that at 9 AM Moscow time on 4 May 2017, a Robinson helicopter operated by ZAO Light Air airlines took off from the airfield in the town of Beloretsk to monitor forest fires. At 1:20 PM Moscow time the helicopter went missing from radars. An alarm was raised and a search operation was launched immediately. 3 hours later an Antonov An-2 plane provided by the Russian Emergency Ministry detected helicopter’s wreckage in the mountains near the settlement of Mezhgorye 20 km from Beloretsk. The captain and two passengers died in the crash.
At present, a number of investigative operations are underway to find out all the circumstances surrounding the crash. Investigators are questioning witnesses, seizing physical evidence and ordering forensic inquiries. There are paratroopers working at the site to recover the bodies. It is hard to examine the crash site at the moment as the helicopter went down in the mountainous area covered with thick forests and overflowed rivers. Unmounted team of investigators, criminalists of the Volga Transport Office of the Investigative Committee, representatives of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Interstate Aviation Committee and rescuers of the Emergency Ministry have been dispatched to the site.
There are several versions of the crash being considered at the moment: technical failure of the helicopter, pilot’s error, poor quality of fuel and adverse weather conditions. The investigation is ongoing.
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