Russian Helicopter Crash in Chechnya Kills at Least 85

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 20, 2002

Russian Helicopter Crash in Chechnya Kills at Least 85

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Russian news agencies reported Monday that the crash in Chechnya of a Russian military transport helicopter had killed at least 85 servicemen on board, but officials said the full number of casualties could not be defined yet.

The large Mi-26 helicopter, designed for maximum 82 people, was reportedly carrying 132 people when it went down near the Russian military headquarters at Khankala outside the regional capital of Grozny.

Col. Boris Podoprigora, deputy commander of Russian troops in Chechnya, said there were 132 people aboard. He said 32 were hospitalized and would survive and others who were injured were being treated at the crash site. Earlier reports said there were 117 servicemen and five crew members on board.

The Interfax news agency quoted sources at the military headquarters as saying that about 80 servicemen were killed. The national Itar-tass, also citing a source there, put the death toll at 85.

The military headquarters said fire and smoke from the crash hampered efforts to determine the exact number of casualties.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered an exhaustive and objective probe into the accident and instructed Commander of the North Caucasus Military District Gennady Troshev to give all possible aid to those injured.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, in a statement from the Defense Ministry, also expressed his condolences to the relatives of the servicemen who were killed.

Sergei Fridinsky, a deputy prosecutor general, told Interfax that investigators were examining two main possible causes of the crash -- the helicopter was either shot down or suffered a technical problem.

Defense Ministry spokesman Nikolai Deryabin told the ORT state television earlier that the captain of the chopper reported an engine fire and said he was going to make an emergency landing before the accident.

Interfax quoted the helicopter's crew as saying that they heard a bang in the area of the right engine when the craft was at an altitude of between 180 and 200 meters and the "fire" indicator came on in the cockpit. The crew then decided to land, but the helicopter hit the ground and caught fire.

Chechen rebels claim to have shot down Russian helicopter

Chechen rebels said Monday that they had shot down a military-transport helicopter Mi-26 of the Russian Air Forces outside the military base in Khankala.

The www.chechenpress.com said that a representative from the Chechen Military Committee told them in a telephone conversation that the helicopter had been shot down by a Zenit missile.

The crew of the Mi-26 helicopter said they heard a bang in the area of the right engine when the craft was at an altitude of between 180 and 200 meters, and that the "fire" indicator came on in the cockpit. The crew decided to land, but the helicopter hit the ground and caught fire.

The helicopter fell at around 1250 GMT five kilometers from the Khankala military base in a suburb of the Chechen capital of Grozny.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Nikolai Deryabin told Interfax that the helicopter's captain, Maj. Oleg Batanov, had radioed to the ground that one of the engines was on fire and that the crew were planning an emergency landing.

A Combined Federal Forces source said the troops aboard the helicopter had been on their way from Mozdok to Khankala.

"The cause of the fall of the helicopter was either a strike bya missile fired from a portable missile anti-aircraft launcher or fire from a heavy machine-gun," the source told Interfax.

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