MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian emergencies ministry helicopter has left for the scene of a Russian Tu-154 airliner crash in Ukraine, a ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.
The Tu-154 jet owned by St. Petersburg-based Pulkovo Airlines was flying from the Russian resort of Anapa on the Black Sea to St. Petersburg via Ukrainian territory and crashed 45 kilometers (30 miles) outside Donetsk in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border Tuesday killing all 171 people onboard.
"A Mi-8 helicopter with 10 rescuers onboard left [for the site] 9:10 p.m. Moscow time (5:10 p.m. GMT)," Natalia Andrianova said.
She also said another group of 115 rescuers had left from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and was approaching the border with Ukraine.
