KHANKALA. March 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Flight recorders of the MI-8 Hip helicopter that crashed in Chechnya last week will soon be delivered to the 13th research and development institute of the Defense Ministry in Lyubertsy outside Moscow for decoding, a source in the commission investigating the crash told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
"The helicopter's onboard flight recorders were badly damaged by the fall and fire, and it turned out impossible to decode them on the scene. They will be delivered to the Defense Ministry's 13th research and development institute for decoding today or tomorrow," the source said.
The MI-8 helicopter owned by the Federal Security Service (FSB) crashed in Chechnya's Urus-Martan district on March 10, killing 15 people and injuring two.
Sources with the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus told Interfax-AVN earlier that the helicopter carried FSB officers posted in the region to be involved in antiterrorist activities. Spokesman for the FSB office in the Khabarovsk territory Viktor Vasilin told Interfax that among the 15 crash victims were seven FSB officers from Khabarovsk.
The press service of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office said the local authorities initiated a criminal case on the violation of piloting regulations causing deaths.
"The preliminary investigation showed that the helicopter caught on power transmission lines before falling," although "all other possible scenarios are also being considered," a source with the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office said.
A source with the commission investigating the crash told Interfax that several bullet holes were discovered in the wreckage of the helicopter's tail.
"Specialists on fire effects have joined the investigation and will have to find out whether these holes were the result of an attack from the ground or the detonation of the ammunition that was onboard during the fire," the source said.