Aug. 31 (UPI) — A helicopter with 22 people aboard went missing Saturday in Russia’s far east region of Kamchatka.
The Mi-8 helicopter had just taken off near the Vachkazhets ancient volcano in the Kamchatka peninsula and was traveling to the village of Nikolayevka eastward about 16 miles away, TASS reported.
Contact was lost with the helicopter at 4:15 p.m. local time Saturday, Kamchatka Gov. Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on Telegram.
He said the helicopter had 19 passengers — most of them tourists– and three crew.
The local weather service said there could have poor visibility in the area around the time of the disappearance.
The crew did not report any problems or issue any distress signals before losing contact.
Kamchatka peninsula is 3,728 miles east of Moscow and 1,242 miles west of Alaska.
The Mi-8 is a twin-engine helicopter designed in the 1960s.
In August 2021, a Mi-8 helicopter crashed into a lake in Kamchatka in poor visibility, killing eight. Sixteen people were on board, including 13 tourists,
In July 2021, a plane crashed during landing on the peninsula with all 28 occupants dead, including 22 passengers and six crew members.