STAVROPOL. Feb 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The headquarters in charge of the search for the MI-24 Hind helicopter missing in Chechnya has decided to expand the search area, the press service of the North Caucasus regional border guard department said on Thursday.
Ten helicopters, including eight of the unified federal troops group and two of the border guard department, will conduct aerial reconnaissance over northern areas of Grozny, the villages of Sleptsovskaya and Sernovodskaya, the press service told Interfax-Military News Agency. Meanwhile, federal military units will continue to search for the helicopter south and southeast of Khankala.
The aviation department of the Federal Border Guard Service wants to expand the search area further to the Chechen mountains towards the Nozhai-Yurt district and relocate the main search work there in a few days. Nevertheless, it is still possible that the helicopter will be found in the vicinity of Khankala.
The helicopter and a MI-8 Hip helicopter operated by the Federal Border Guard Service were caught in bad weather while flying along the Vladikavkaz - Tuskhoroi - Vladikavkaz route on Sunday. The MI-8 landed in Beslan, North Ossetia, while the MI-24 commander told ground control in the last radio exchange that he was at an altitude of 1,500 meters and starting to descend. At a height of 600 meters contact broke off.
The search is supervised by Major General Anatoly Zheleznov, first deputy head of the aviation department.