A search and rescue team has found the bodies of eight people from under an avalanche after a helicopter with a group of German tourists went missing on the Kamchatka Peninsula earlier on Saturday, a Far East Emergencies Ministry spokesman said.
According to Sergei Viktorov, a total of 18 people were initially on board the MI-8 Hip helicopter that failed to make radio contact at a specified time. Search operations were immediately started and another helicopter pilot spotted the missing aircraft at the base of a mountain under an avalanche and reported that the helicopter was damaged.
"All of the bodies have been found," Viktorov said.
One German tourist and the pilot's grandson are in serious condition and have been transported to a hospital in Yelizova.
Viktorov said that only the three helicopter crew members were found inside the aircraft, and the remaining passengers were on the ground in the snow when the avalanche occurred. The avalanche buried 14 German tourists and one other passenger.
MOSCOW, April 10 (RIA Novosti)
