A helicopter carrying 22 people has gone missing in Far East region of Kamchatka, Russia.
Governor of Kamchatka, Vladimir Solodov confirmed the incident in a video posted on Telegram on Saturday.
The Governor said that they lost contact with a Mi-8 helicopter around 16:15 local time (04:15 GMT).
He revealed that the helicopter had 19 passengers, in which most of them are tourists, and three crew members on board.
Solodov added that the incident occurred not long after the aircraft took off near Vachkazhet ancient volcano in Kamchatka peninsula and was traveling to the village of Nikolayevka further east about 25km away.
Regional authorities revealed that rescue teams, including helicopters, are still searching a river valley where the helicopter was scheduled to fly to reach its destination.
They further noted that poor visibility due to local weather conditions is however hindering the search efforts from going smoothly.
Also, Local weather service said the helicopter disappeared from radar almost immediately after taking off due to poor visibility in the area around the time of the disappearance.
It added that the crew did not report they were facing any problems or issued any distress signals before losing contact. (vitalnewsngr.com)
