St Petersburg - An Mi-8 military helicopter crashed yesterday killing all 19 people on board just four minutes after it took off from an airfield near St Petersburg.
The Mi-8, transport workhorse of the Russian military and various civilian institutions, was carrying 16 air force paratroops on a search-and-rescue training flight and three crew, an air force officer said. The Mi-8 has been prone to accidents in recent years throughout the former Soviet Union.