MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) - An Mi-8 helicopter carrying oil workers crashed in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area in West Siberia killing at least nine people on Wednesday, the emergencies ministry said.
There were 16 people on board the helicopter, of which three were crew members and 13 were workers at a local drilling platform, a ministry spokesman said.
"The helicopter went down 70 kilometers from border between the Khanty Mansi Autonomous Area and Yamal," he said.
Two Mi-8 helicopters with rescuers and doctors have flown to the site of the crash. One of the survivors is seriously injured, the spokesman said.
Yury Mushikhin, press secretary for the Yutair airline owning the helicopter, confirmed the crash.
"There was a fire aboard the helicopter... The helicopter was flying from Noyabrsk to a drilling platform," he said.
The Khanty Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous areas account for the majority of Russia's oil production.
