NO SURVIVORS as helicopter CRASH kills 18 people in Siberia, Russia

The helicopter was operated by the Utair airline, according to an emergency services source cited by TASS, a Russian news agency.

It was carrying 15 passengers and three crew members, the emergencies ministry has estimated.

The helicopter is thought to have been taking workers to an oil well.

The crash occurred shortly after take-off, when the helicopter’s fuel tanks were full.

The resulting inferno reportedly completely incinerated the aircraft.

An emergency service worker told TASS: “There were three crew members and 15 passengers aboard the Mi-8 that belonged to Utair airline. All of them died.”

A well-informed official said the helicopter had taken off from the town of Igarka, located on the River Yenisei to the north of the Arctic Circle.

He said: “It crashed 2km to the south of the airport.”

Operatives and rescue teams are working at the scene of the crash.

The Krasnoyarsk region branch of the emergences ministry has confirmed a helicopter performed a “hard landing” in the area at 10.20am local time (03.20 GMT), and said details are being clarified.

Utair airlines operates scheduled domestic and some international passenger flights, scheduled helicopter services and extensive charter flights with fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter flights in support of the oil and gas industry across western Siberia.

On October 31, Utair announced its rebranding and changing its name from “Utair Aviation” to “Utair”.

Krasnoyarsk is a city on the Yenisei River in Siberia, Russia.

It is known for its Central Park Gorky, which has a children’s train, carnival rides and statues of writers Maxim Gorky and Alexander Pushkin.

Igarka, the town from which the helicopter reportedly took off, is in the Turukansky district of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located 163km north of the Arctic Circle.

Average temperatures in the region are between 21 and-30 degrees giving it an extremely varied climate.

The town has a population of just 6,183, according to the 2012 census.