Helicopter crashes in Siberia, killing 18 people

Aircraft collides with second helicopter that had taken off moments before from same pad

The helicopter that crashed was manufactured in 2010 and the pilot had nearly 6,000 hours of experience (file photo) (Getty/Stocktrek)

Eighteen people have been killed after a Russian helicopter crashed shortly after take-off in Siberia, officials say.

Reports suggest the aircraft went down at 10:20 local time (03:20 GMT) after its blades collided with another helicopter that had taken off beforehand from the same pad in Vankor – an oil and gas field in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory.

All those on board – which included 15 passengers and three crew members – were subsequently killed, the Russian Transport Ministry said.

It added that the second helicopter landed safely and said the incident happened in “normal” weather conditions.

The helicopter that crashed was manufactured in 2010 and the pilot had nearly 6,000 hours of experience, including 2,300 as a captain.

Russian news reports said all the passengers were believed to have been working for a subsidiary of the state oil company Rosneft.

Russian air safety has improved since the 1990s, when poor aircraft maintenance, pilot training and official oversight in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in a high crash incidence.

In February, a Saratov Airlines An-148 regional jet crashed about six minutes after take-off from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, killing all 71 people aboard.

A UTair ATR 72 crashed in Siberia in 2012, killing 33 of the 43 people aboard, after failing to be de-iced before take-off.

Additional reporting by agencies