OREANDA-NEWS. July 11, 2012. On July 4, 2012 shortly after takeoff from Lensk Airport in Yakutia a UTair Aviation AS-350 helicopter made an emergency landing at a distance of 4 km from the airport. Preliminary reports indicate three people on board have died.

As a result of a hard landing the helicopter caught fire. Aboard the helicopter were pilot Vasily Gordeychuk, mechanic Vasily Druzenko and two passengers - Yaroslav Verezhak and Artur Popov. As of the most recent update on the accident  the bodies of three people have been located at the crash site. Emergency rescue work continues and an investigation into the accident has been launched.

The Eurocopter AS-350 was delivered to UTair in 2005 and had logged a total of 2,044 flight hours. The helicopter had undergone regular maintenance and the pilot, Vasily Gordiychuk (43) was an experienced serviceman with the Russian Air Force with more than 5,000 flight hours.

UTair Aviation has grounded all aircraft at the Lensk Airport pending an investigation into the quality of the fuel supply at the airport. The airline has contacted the families of those involved and together with insurer works on compensations.