Helicopter with Sakhalin governor not found

The second day of search for a Mi-8 helicopter, which carried, according to varying reports, up to 19 passengers, Governor of Sakhalin Igor Farkhutdinov and members of his administration among them, and which disappeared over Kamchatka (north-east of Russia's Asian part), has produced no results.

The search is conducted by 7 helicopters, 4 planes, experts with dogs, and divers; 22 units of ground equipment are used. The search has been joined by units of the North-Eastern group of armed forces, the Federal Security Service and police. All the aircraft maintain uninterrupted communication with the operations headquarters headed by Gennady Korotkin, Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations.

The search has been planned with due account of bad weather, so that the largest possible area could be surveyed before twilight (time difference between Kamchatka and Moscow is 9 hours).