A helicopter carrying six people, including two doctors and a hospital patient, went missing in harsh weather early Saturday in the Russian Far East, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. The Mi-8 helicopter was traveling from the towns of Osacha to Yelizovo on the Kamchatka Peninsula when ground controllers lost radio contact, said a duty officer at the Kamchatka regional branch of the ministry. Three crew members were on board along with the passengers. A helicopter was dispatched to search for the missing aircraft but due to poor weather conditions it turned back, the ministry said. Rescuers were searching by foot in the vicinity of two volcanoes where the helicopter was last registered in the air, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
