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[Presenter] The circumstances of the accident involving a Mi-14 helicopter are being investigated on Sakhalin. It crashed in the sea this morning during a Russian-Japanese exercise. One person was killed. Specialists were trying out measures to deal with an imaginary oil spill. TV journalists who were covering the exercise recorded the moment that the helicopter crashed. The accident happened as the Mi-14 was flying just above the surface of the water.
The transport prosecutor's office has instituted criminal proceedings. The provisional theory is that the accident could have been caused by a technical fault.
[Igor Zhdanov, acting director-general of the Sakhalin Basin emergency rescue directorate] The helicopter had not gained any height after taking off when, it is thought, its engine failed. The helicopter fell back into the water. Its nose tipped forward into the swell. The tips of the rotors clipped the water and the helicopter toppled over, disintegrating on the surface.
[Presenter] Thirteen people - crew members and rescuers - are thought to have been aboard the helicopter. The machine did not sink. Sailors from nearby vessels managed to rapidly evacuate 12 casualties. A little later Japanese divers recovered yet another person from the cabin, but his life could not be saved. Two injured casualties were taken to hospital in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The half-submerged helicopter will shortly be towed to the port of Korsakov.