Suspected Mid-air Helicopter Collision in Russia, Eighteen killed

A Mi-8 helicopter crashed in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region, East Siberia, killing 18 people on board, according to a source as told to Sputnik on Saturday.

According to the regional emergency services, Mi-8 crash was caused by a technical failure due to which the helicopter fell apart and caught fire.

However, law enforcers said the helicopter crashed because of midair collision with a cargo carried by another helicopter.

A spokesman for an emergency team found two flight recorders at the site of the crash. Operatives and rescue teams were working at the site of the crash at the time this report went on wire.

Details of the second helicopter were not immediately available. 

"There were 18 people aboard the aircraft, including three crew members. All of them died," the source in the regional emergency services said.

"At 10:20 a.m. on August 4, 2018, a Mi-8 helicopter performed a hard landing in Turukhansk district 2 kilometers from the village of Igarka," as reported by an official in Russian Emergency Ministry's department . "It crashed 2 km to the south of the airport, immediately after takeoff," he said.