Kamchatsky, April 11, 2010, SPA -- An investigative group is on its way to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski in the Russian Far East where a Mi-8 helicopter of the “Kamchatka Airlines” company crashed on Saturday. The accident claimed the lives of ten people, including five Germans, a source at the Kamchatka regional department of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations said. Rescuers continue recovering the bodies of dead tourists from under a snow avalanche. The accident occurred 67 kilometers away from the town of Yelizovo near the Dukum mountain pass. The bodies are lying from 4 to 10 meters deep under the snow. About 40 rescuers are taking part in the rescue operation that has been under way since April 10. There are six people under the avalanche. There were 18 people onboard the crashed helicopter, including twelve foreign snowboarders. The rescuers have saved eight people, including six Germans, one Belgian and one Russian. In the afternoon on April 10 a Mi-8 helicopter with a group of tourists onboard lost radio contact with the ground. A search operation began. They found the helicopter. It was totally crushed by a snow avalanche. It turned out that fifteen tourists were on a mountain slope when the avalanche began falling down. Three crewmen were in the pilot's cockpit. The avalanche pulled the helicopter 200 meters down the slope. As a result, the Mi-8 was fully destroyed. Two crewmen who were onboard died, the Kamchatka branch of the Emergencies Ministry department told Itar-Tass. The bodies of four people have been retrieved from under the snow and delivered to the town of Yelizovo.
