A Russian military helicopter crashed into a mountain in bad weather near Russia's turbulent Chechnya region, killing two of its crew, defence officials said yesterday.
The MI-8 helicopter, with a three-man crew of interior ministry troops, went missing on Sunday night on its way from Khankala - Russia's main military base in Chechnya near the regional capital Grozny - to neighbouring Ingushetia.
"We can confirm that two of its crew died in the crash, and one is in hospital with severe injuries," said an official at the defence ministry's search and rescue service.
Although the ministry said it believed the cause of the crash was bad weather, helicopters are regular targets for Chechen rebels, who have fought Russian troops for independence in the past decade.
Security services have been on alert since last week's school siege by Chechen rebels, in which at least 338 hostages were killed in the nearby Caucasus region of North Ossetia.
A defence ministry spokesman said rescue workers found the wreckage scattered near the Ingush village of Karabulak, where the aircraft struck a mountain. Security services were investigating the crash.
In one of the worst attacks on Russian aircraft, rebels shot down a packed transport helicopter and sent it crashing into a mine field in August 2002, killing 118 soldiers.