147 People on Board Downed Helicopter, 33 Survive

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 21, 2002

147 People on Board Downed Helicopter, 33 Survive

There were 147 people aboard the Russian military helicopter that crashed in Chechnya on Monday, and only 33 of them survived the crash, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced Tuesday.

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There were 147 people aboard the Russian military helicopter that crashed in Chechnya on Monday, and only 33 of them survived the crash, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced Tuesday.

The large Mi-26 helicopter, jammed with servicemen and five crewmembers, went down near the Russian military headquarters at Khankala outside Grozny, resulting in what Russian media called asthe country's biggest military air disaster.

Ivanov, who flew to Kahankala on Tuesday to oversee the probe, praised the rescue operation as quick and efficient, adding that all injured had been taken to hospitals in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

Ivanov's statement gives the first official confirmation of exact numbers of people on board and the death toll, which varied largely in different media reports. Military officials said fire and smoke from the crash hampered efforts to determine the exact number of casualties.

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree setting August 22 as the Day of Mourning for victims in the crash.

Ivanov also expressed his condolences to the relatives of the killed servicemen in a statement from the Defense Ministry.

Helicopter downed in Chechnya struck by Missile

Investigators have found a discarded missile launcher near the site of a Russian transport helicopter that crashed Monday in Russia's Chechnya on Monday, theInterfax news agency quoted a military source as saying on Tuesday.

"The investigating group have found the weapon of the crime, a Strela anti-aircraft missile launcher, which had been used," the source in the military headquarters for Russian troops in the North Caucasus was quoted as saying.

Eyewitnesses said that an unidentified man had fired a missile from the first floor of one of the damaged apartment blocks in thevicinity of the crash site. Later, the emplacement was found and examined, the source said.

Eyewitnesses also said they had seen a discharge of smoke typical of a Strela during the landing of the helicopter, he said.

A large Mi-26 helicopter, reportedly carrying 132 to more than 150 people, went down near the Russian military headquarters at Khankala outside Grozny. Over 100 people were estimated killed in what media called the country's biggest military air disaster.

The material evidence has been shown to the Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov and other investigators, the source said.

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