Russian Mi-6 down in Arctic
 

CNN:

MOSCOW, Russia -- A search and rescue operation has been launched after a helicopter on a geological expedition to the Russian Arctic went missing in poor weather with 22 people on board.

Vitaly Tropynin, spokesman for the Siberian regional emergencies department, said radio contact with the Mi-6 helicopter was lost as it neared the Taimyr Peninsula on Wednesday.

Defence and emergency officials have sent planes and rescuers to search for the helicopter, which has nine crew and 13 passengers aboard.

Rain and snow were hampering search efforts, and temperatures were around freezing, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

The missing helicopter had left Norilsk, 1,320 miles (2,120 km) northeast of Moscow, for Cape Eclipse on the Kara Sea.

Rescuers on board three aircraft -- an Il-76 plane, an An-74 plane from the Emergency Situations Ministry and an An-26 plane of the Defence Ministry -- are searching an area around Dixon Island, a small island off the northwest coast of the Taimyr Peninsula.