MOZDOK. Sept 6 (Interfax-AVN) - Specified information proved that a total of 154 passengers were onboard a MI-26 Halo helicopter that crashed in Chechnya on August 19, a source at an aviation base in Mozdok, where the helicopter flew from, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
"Several servicemen, who went onboard the aircraft before its final take-off, could not be included on the list," the source said.
The flight list with information on passengers could be made separately from the main list, the source stressed.
On Thursday a source in the investigation group told Interfax-AVN that according to specified information, 152 people including five crewmembers were onboard the helicopter.
"The total number of people from the helicopter is being cleared out," the source said.
The Defense Ministry 124th forensic medicine laboratory refused to comment on the information.
The MI-26 military transport helicopter was hit by a missile from the Igla portable SAM system near Khankala on August 19. The helicopter flew from Mozdok.
Twenty-eight people survived in the crash. Officials from the Defense Ministry do not comment on the increasing number of the crash's victims.