There will be updates (see bottom end of this article) as further information becomes available.
A Russian MI-8 helicopter crashed near Barentsburg and fell into the sea in Isfjord. The helicopter was on the way from Pyramiden to Barentsburg with 8 persons on board.
The emergency call from the airport tower Longyearbyen was received at 15.35 local time by the emergency response centre North Norway. Norwegian search and rescue (SAR) forces are on location with helicopter and ships. The crash site is in the Isfjord, 2-3 kilometres away from Heerodden, the Russian helicopter base at Barentsburg.
No information is currently available regarding the condition of the 8 persons on board. There is a breeze (7-8 m/s) and the visibility is affected by snowfall.
According to Norwegian law, the Russian helicopters in Spitsbergen are only allowed to fly for company purposes. Charter flights, for example for film teams or scientists, are not permitted. This makes it likely that the 8 people on board were employees of the owner of the helicopter, Trust Arktikugol.
Update: next to the pilot (Baranov Evgeny), co-pilot (Frolov Vladimir), flight engineer (Alexei Poulyauskas), a technician (Mihtar Marat), and an engineer (Korolev Aleksey), there were 3 scientists of the Institute for Arctic and Antarctic Research in St. Petersburg on board: Golovanov Oleg, Fadeev Nicholas, Kaulio Maksim. The names were released in the Russian press.
Update: Dmitrij Zjeljazkov, director of Konvers Avia, the company that owns and operates the helicopter, has told the Russian news agency Tass that the 3 passengers were miners of the Trust Arktikugol.
Russian MI-8 helicopter at the airport Longyearbyen (archive image).
This and other publishing products of the Spitsbergen publishing house in the Spitsbergen-Shop.
Norwegens arktischer Norden (1): Spitzbergen
Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German. [shop url="https://shop.spitzbergen.de/en/polar-books/70-norwegens-arktischer-norden-1-aerial-arctic-9783937903262.html"] ← Back
Lofoten, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen from the air - Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German, but there is very little text, so I am sure that you will enjoy it regardless which languages you read (or not).
The companion book for the Svalbardhytter poster. The poster visualises the diversity of Spitsbergen‘s huts and their stories in a range of Arctic landscapes. The book tells the stories of the huts in three languages.
Comprehensive guidebook about Spitsbergen. Background (wildlife, plants, geology, history etc.), practical information including travelling seasons, how to travel, description of settlements, routes and regions.
Join an exciting journey with dog, skis and tent through the wintery wastes of East Greenland! We were five guys and a dog when we started in Ittoqqortoormiit, the northernmost one of two settlements on Greenland’s east coast.
12 postcards which come in a beautifully designed tray. Beautiful images from South Georgia across Antarctica from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea and up to Macquarie Island and Campbell Island.