deadOslo, Oct 29 (AFP) A Russian helicopter that went downoff the coast of Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arcticthis week has been found and the eight Russians on board arepresumed dead, Norwegian rescue crews said today.
The Mil Mi-8 chopper, carrying five crew and threescientists, went missing on Thursday as it was flying toBarentsburg from Pyramiden, a former mining community inSvalbard that is now a tourist site.
It went down two or three kilometres from Barentsburg, aRussian mining community in the archipelago.
"The wreck of the Russian helicopter has been located...
northeast of Heerodden, at a depth of 209 metres," the rescueservices said in a statement.
"The search has now concluded, and has moved into asearch phase for the presumed dead."A sea patrol plane, a Danish aircraft, two Norwegianhelicopters and several vessels had been searching the areasince Thursday.
No contact had been made with the chopper before or afterit went down.
A small robot submarine located the wreck afterinvestigating an area where an oil patch and bubbles wereobserved, rescue services said.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, butvisibility in the area was reduced because of snow anddarkness, which falls early this time of year at thislatitude.
Norway was afforded sovereignty of Svalbard, locatedaround 1,000 kilometres from the North Pole, under the 1920Treaty of Paris.
Nationals of all signatory states enjoy "equal liberty ofaccess and entry" to Svalbard and its waters.
As a result, Russia operates a coal mine in Barentsburg,home to several hundred Russian and Ukrainian miners.
According to Russia's consul general in Svalbard,Viacheslav Nikolayev, the helicopter was owned by theArktikugol coal mining company and was used regularly to flythe miners between Barentsburg and Svalbard's main town ofLongyearbyen. (AFP)CPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.