Eleven Die in Ukraine, Russia Helicopter Crashes

KIEV, Mar 19, 2001 -- (Reuters) Two Soviet-designed military helicopters crashed in Ukraine and Russia on Monday, killing a total of 11 people, military officials in both countries said.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Kostyantyn Khivrenko said eight people were killed in the Mi-8 military transport helicopter crash which occurred shortly before 10 a.m. near Kherson in the south of the former Soviet state.

Another Mi-8 on its way for an overhaul crashed near the Russian city of Ulyanovsk, killing three crew members, according to military officials.

Two Mi-8 helicopters crashed in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this year. In one accident, in February, six people on board were killed when the helicopter plunged from 600 meters (2,000 feet) while patrolling the Chinese border.

Khivrenko said it was the first Mi-8 crash in Ukraine since independence a decade ago.

He said the defense ministry had banned all helicopter flights pending a probe into Monday's crash. He said Defense Minister Olexander Kuzmuk had cut short his visit to the United Arab Emirates and was returning to Ukraine.

A second defense ministry official, Ihor Khorvinsky, said the helicopter carrying six military pilots and two technicians to the Black Sea port of Odessa crashed seconds after take-off.

The aircraft involved in Monday's other crash belonged to Russian forces which patrol the border between the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=314146

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), March 19, 2001