Mi-26 Black Boxes to Be Decoded in Moscow

The black boxes from the Mi-26 helicopter, that crashed in Chita, will be delivered for decoding to Moscow on Friday, May 9th, Russian Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

The decision to bring the black boxes to Moscow was taken as neither Chita nor Krasnoyarsk has the necessary equipment to decode them.

The recordings from the helicopter, telemetry and the crew's conversation, will provide significant assistance in investigating the crash, Shoigu believes. However, the recordings "are somewhat damaged," he pointed out without specifying how serious the damage was.

It is still early to draw any conclusions as to the causes of the tragedy, the Minister emphasized. "We only know that the crash was caused by a cable that wound on the rotor. It is for the committee to find out how it happened," he explained.

The Emergency Ministry's Mi-26 helicopter crashed on May 3rd in the Chita region, Russia's Far East. 12 people, the crew, forest fire experts and journalists were killed in the accident.