Two Russian tourists and a sports star were killed in a helicopter crash before they were ‘taken away and gnawed by brown bears’. World junior biathlon champion Igor Malinovsky, 25, died along with Zoya Kaygorodova, a businesswoman in her 30s who had organized the £4,250 trip, and mobile phone boss Sergey Kolesnyak, 39. Mr Malinovsky was piloting the helicopter on the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Siberia when it crashed on Saturday. The trio lost contact due to bad weather before the Robinson helicopter, named Nadezhda or Hope, caught fire, according to reports. Rescuers found the charred remains the next day, with footage showing the scene of the tragedy. An investigation reportedly found that their bodies were dragged away and eaten by bears after the incident. “The remains of the dead tourists after the crash of a Robinson helicopter in Kamchatka were carried away by bears,” the 5TV channel reported, citing local sources. To view this video, please enable JavaScript and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Robinson helicopter crash site (Image: east2west) Mr Malinovsky had retrained as a helicopter pilot (Image: Igor Malinovsky/east2west) Ms Kaygorodova was a businesswoman in her mid-30s (Image: east2west) Mr Kolesnyak was an executive at the mobile phone company (Image: east2west)
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The aircraft is believed to have been on its way to the village of Milkovo, Mr Malinovski’s home. He was a five-time world junior biathlon champion who had retrained as a pilot for a company run by his father Vladimir. The cause of the crash is still unclear, but an investigation will be conducted. A statement from the Russian Emergencies Ministry read: “Unfortunately, none [of the three people on board] survived the crash.’ Contact our news team by emailing us at [email protected] For more stories like this, check out our news page.
