Weather on Taimyr complicates search for missing helicopter

Rescuers have temporarily discontinued their search for a Mi-6 helicopter that went missing above the arctic peninsula of Taimyr, Eastern Siberia, reported Vladimir Latyshev, the head of the administration of the Dickson district.

Weather conditions in the area of Dickson Island, the Kara Sea, have worsened sharply as the temperature dropped to zero Celsius, bringing heavy snow, rain and dense fog to the area.

According to Latyshev, two jets with emergencies ministry teams and all the equipment necessary to conduct a search have departed from the territorial centre of Krasnoyarsk and Taimyr's administrative centre of Norilsk to help local rescuers.

In case it proves impossible to conduct an air search, the rescuers will set out on caterpillar land-rovers and even on foot, promised Latyshev.

The Mi-6, which had 8 crew, 13 passengers and about 3 tons of load on board, left the Norilsk airport of Valek on Wednesday afternoon and headed to the arctic settlements of Dickson and Eklips, both of which lie near Cape Chelyuskin, on a geological mission. It never reached its destination, which is was expected to do in 2.5 hours. All communication with the crew was lost and has not been restored since. A Wednesday evening search for the missing aircraft produced no results.