MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry has officially confirmed the crash of a MI-8 Hip military helicopter in Chechnya.
There were three crewmembers and seven passengers on board the helicopter, head of the Russian Air Force press service Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky has told Interfax-Military News Agency. "The helicopter crashed spinning from the altitude of 50 meters. It exploded the moment it hit the ground," he said.
The flight engineer has been taken to the hospital in grave condition, he said. "It is still unknown what happened to the other crewmembers and passengers," he added.
A commission led by Air Force Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Mikhailov is at the crash site, Drobyshevsky said.
"Representatives of the Defense Ministry's flight safety service, the Air Force, and specialists from the 13th research institute that investigates air accidents will go there from Moscow in the evening," the colonel said.
According to Drobyshevsky, the helicopter was owned by the Air Force. It was taking part in the search for the MI-24 Hind helicopter that went missing in Chechnya on Sunday.
Drobyshevsky confirmed that the crash happened at 2:27 p.m. Moscow time (1127 GMT) on Thursday when the MI-8 helicopter was taking off from the Khankala airfield.