Russia’s governor dies in copter crash flying for hunt

Four people were killed in the crash of the helicopter on the outskirts of the Irkutsk region. The governor of the region, Igor Yesipovsky, was killed in the crash too. Several tents have been set up 400 meters far from the crash scene for specialists investigating the reasons of the crash.

Photo: Russia’s governor dies in copter crash flying for hunt

Local media say that Yesipovsky was flying for a hunt. The chopper reportedly crashed when the propeller blades of the low-flying helicopter hurtled something. Governor Yesipovsky personally owned the crashed helicopter, Barb.ru website says.

The governor’s Bell-407 chopper was supposed to be piloted by two pilots. However, one of the pilots refused to board the aircraft for unknown reasons.

Sergey Sokol, the Vice Premier of the Irkutsk regional government, could not specify the details of the governor’s journey, nor did he know the route of the flight. “It was a tourist journey,” the official only said.

The Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk region decided to declare May 12 the day of mourning in connection with the governor’s tragic death, RIA Novosti reports. There were three other people on board the chopper: the chairman of the government of the Irkutsk region, Mikhail Shtond, local defense official Alexander Shostak, and pilot Viktor Kunov. The crash left no survivors .

Yesipovsky (50) became Russia’s third governor, who died in a copter crash. The head of the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia, Alexander Lebed, and the head of the Sakhalin region, Igor Farkhutdinov, were killed in the crashes of helicopters too.