NOVOSIBIRSK, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - A helicopter crashed in the Tomsk Region in west Siberia on Tuesday, injuring at least 11 people, a local emergency services official said.
"An Mi-8 helicopter belonging to the Novosibirsk air repair plant made an emergency landing near the Sobolinoye [oil] field on September 18 and flipped over," an official said. Seventeen passengers and three crew were on board the helicopter.
He said rescuers arrived at the scene at 12.05 local time (5:05 a.m. GMT) and 11 people, who requested medical aid, were taken to hospital in a nearby town.
"Information on injuries will be made public after the passengers have undergone medical examinations in the hospital. None of the crew were injured," he said.
The Sobolinoye deposit, to which RussNeft oil company holds a license, is located 500 km (310 miles) from the regional center Tomsk, in a remote area with numerous rivers.
Crashes of Mi-8 Hip transport helicopters, first introduced to the Soviet Air Force in the late 1960s, are a relatively common occurrence in Russia. Several accidents involving the helicopter have occurred in recent months.
Six people including two Polish tourists died following a crash of an Mi-8 in the Magadan Region in Russia's Far East on Saturday. Another Mi-8 with six crew members on board disappeared on September 9 in west Siberia's Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, and has yet to be found. An Mi-8 crashed in the same region in early July, but all passengers and crew survived. In early July a pilot was killed and another injured when an Mi-8 Russian border guard helicopter crashed near the Estonian border.
