Heli­co­p­ter crash: wreck soon to be lifted

The wreck of the Rus­si­an heli­co­p­ter that cras­hed into Isfjord last week was iden­ti­fied on pho­tos taken by a dive robo­ter from the rese­arch ves­sel Ossi­an Sars. The MI-8 heli­co­p­ter is lying on the sea floor at a depth of 209 metres in Isfjord, about 2 km from the Rus­si­an heli­co­p­ter base at Hee­rod­den clo­se to Bar­ents­burg.

One body was found in a distance of 130 metres to the wreck. It is alrea­dy in Lon­gye­ar­by­en. The­re is no hope that any of the 8 peop­le in the heli­co­p­ter, 5 crew and 3 sci­en­tists, sur­vi­ved.

The Nor­we­gi­an aut­ho­ri­ty for traf­fic dis­as­ters (Sta­tens hava­ri­kom­mis­jon for trans­port, SHT) is now in char­ge of fur­ther inves­ti­ga­ti­ons. A sal­va­ge ves­sel is expec­ted to arri­ve in Lon­gye­ar­by­en on Thurs­day. The uplif­ting ope­ra­ti­ons will start as soon as the ves­sel is in posi­ti­on at the acci­dent site. Rus­si­an spe­cia­lists are in Lon­gye­ar­by­en to sup­port the Nor­we­gi­an for­ces under Nor­we­gi­an lea­ders­hip. When the wreck is lifted, it will be taken to the Nor­we­gi­an main­land for fur­ther inves­ti­ga­ti­ons. SHT is cur­r­ent­ly con­duc­ting inter­views with wit­nes­ses and collec­ting various data inclu­ding wea­ther, the con­di­ti­on of the heli­co­p­ter, qua­li­fi­ca­ti­on of the crew and more.

Source: SHT