5 Mi-8 crash victims in serious condition

Five passengers of the Mi-8 helicopter that crashed in Russia’s Siberian Tomsk region on Sunday are in grave conditions. Three others are in condition of moderate gravity, three others have minor injuries, a spokesman for the Tomsk regional emergencies department told Itar-Tass. “People have mainly fractures and contusions, including brain contusions, but there is no need in taking them to bigger medical establishments,” the spokesman said. Among those hurt are the helicopter’s pilot, a Novosibirsk resident, and rotation workers from oil fields, residents of the Khanty-Mansi autonomous area, the Perm Territory, the republics of Bashkortostan and Chuvashia, the Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, and Toms regions. The air incident occurred at about 10:00 a.m. Moscow time on Sunday at the landing pad Igol. The Mi-8 helicopter of the air company Gazpromavia fell on its side in the takeoff. There were 17 people - fourteen passengers and three crewmen - onboard the helicopter. Fifteen people were hurt during the crash landing, of whom eleven were hospitalized.