On-Don, Russia, July 13, SPA -- A Russian air force helicopter with four people aboard crashed Saturday in mountainous southern Chechnya, military and emergency officials said. The Mi-8 helicopter crashed in the Itum-Kale district at about 11:30 a.m. (0730 GMT), said Nikolai Ivashkevich, an official at the Emergency Situations Ministry's headquarters for southern Russia. The cause of the crash and the fate of the three crewmen and one passenger aboard were not known, Ivashkevich said. Air force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said rescuers flew to the area aboard another Mi-8, escorted by two Mi-24 helicopters, Russian news agencies reported, and RIA-Novosti later reported that the helicopter had been found. Ivashkevich said the helicopter had taken off from Khankala, the main Russian military base in Chechnya. Drobyshevsky said the helicopter had been transporting the passenger and unspecified cargo, according to the reports.
