MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti) - The pilot of a Russian helicopter that crashed off the island of Sakhalin Thursday has died, a spokesman for the local emergencies ministry said.
"The pilot died on the way to the hospital after sustaining a broken spine," he said. "The other 12 people traveling on board [the helicopter] have been taken to the hospital,"
The Mi-14 helicopter owned by a Sakhalin company crashed early in the morning during a Russian-Japanese exercise to respond to an oil spill in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Eight rescuers and five crewmembers were on board.
