KRASNOYARSK, MARCH 30 (RIA Novosti, Boris Ivanov) - A helicopter carrying aid to a group of tourists hit by an avalanche has arrived in southeast Siberia, the emergency services said Thursday.
The heavy-duty Mi-8 brought rescuers and paramedics to the Irkutsk Region to attend to eight tourists who sustained various injuries in the slide on Wednesday, a representative of the Emergency Situations Ministry said. All of the group's 18 tourists are alive and they are now 250 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of the city of Irkutsk near the border with the Republic of Buryatia.
About 40 rescuers have already been sent to the site.
Springtime is an avalanche-hazardous season, and another snow-slide claimed three lives on the Kamchatka Peninsula on the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.
