VLADIVOSTOK. April 2 (Interfax-AVN) - The Pacific Fleet has not fixed the date for salvaging the KA-27PS Helix deck-based helicopter that crashed in Ussuri Bay on March 26, chief of the fleet's press service Captain Alexander Kosolapov said on Wednesday.
"The fleet's experts have so far been unable to say when the salvaging of the helicopter from the bay bottom begins. This is a complex multi-scenario process, and its details are not fully clear to the experts," Kosolapov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The KA-27PS carrying four crewmembers fell into the sea during a training flight from the deck of the Admiral Tributs large anti-submarine ship. The helicopter fell not far from the Russky Island from an altitude of 50m. It is now lying on the sea bottom at a depth of about 70m.
The aircraft was detected with the help of equipment operating in visual and hydro-acoustic ranges. It turned out that the helicopter was carried away by the current at a long distance from the scene of the crash.
The body of Captain Andrey Korovin, the helicopter's navigator, was found during the search. The bodies of the other crewmembers - commander Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Toporichev, aircraft mechanic Captain Alexei Krasnoshchyokov, and medical attendant Warrant Officer Rinat Khamitov - are believed to be in the helicopter cabin.
"Six vessels of the fleet are staying in the operation area, one of them carrying the salvage operation staff," Kosolapov said.
"According to reports from the chief-of-staff, deep-sea divers and technical assets are fully ready for the salvage operation, but does not seem possible at the moment to launch the work. Additional examination of the area adjacent to the helicopter is underway," he said.