Death toll from Russia's helicopter crash rises to four

VLADIVOSTOK, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Russia's UTair airline confirmed Thursday that the death toll from Wednesday's helicopter crash in the Far East has risen to four.

According to the investigation committee, the victims included two passengers, a pilot and a mechanic on board, but the cause of the accident was yet to be determined.

The AS-350 aircraft was en route from the town of Bratsk in southern Siberia to Tolokan, a village in the Sakha Republic, with a stopover in the town of Lensk.

At 6:08 p.m. local time (0808 GMT) on Wednesday, the helicopter took off from Lensk after refuelling. The alarm was sounded 13 minutes later when the crew failed to establish contact with the ground control.

A few hours later, the rescue team found the helicopter's wreckage in the mountainous terrain 4 km from Lensk.

AS-350 is a single-engine helicopter with four seats. UTair, the largest Russian airline by the size of its helicopter fleet, has 12 helicopters of that class.

Since March 2007, UTair has lost two planes and four helicopters in six accidents which resulted in 49 deaths.