Russian, Moldovan pilots killed in copter crash in Sierra Leone

Two pilots, one Russian and the other Moldovan, were killed and the Russian crew commander gravely injured in a helicopter crash in Sierra Leone late Sunday, the Russian Embassy in nearby Guinea said.

The crash killed a total of 23 people, including 20 Togolese soccer officials flying from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to the local international airport following a soccer match between Sierra Leone and Togo, which Togo won 1-0. The flight normally takes seven minutes.

“Twenty-three people were onboard, including three crewmembers,” Anatoly Maleshov, head of the embassy’s consular department, said. “The information concerning the deaths of Russian pilot Alexander Khovaiko and Moldovan pilot Vyacheslav Zaitsev has been confirmed.”

Maleshov said the only survivor, Russian crew commander Sergei Perlakov, was in hospital.

The Reuters news agency quoted local officials as saying Togolese Sports Minister Richard Attipoe, chief of the national soccer delegation, was also one of the crash victims.

No soccer players were onboard the helicopter, which belonged to Paramount Airlines. The company operates flights between Freetown and the international airport of Sierra Leone, divided by a river.

The cause of the crash is being investigated. Preliminary reports suggest the helicopter could have burst into flames in the air. RIA Novosti