Helicopter with 14 on board crashes in Russia

MOSCOW: Some 14 people were missing on Monday after their helicopter crashed in the Russian Far East, officials said, the latest aviation tragedy to hit the country.

The Mi-8 helicopter carrying firefighters crashed near the village of Chekunda in the Khabarovsk region.

A spokeswoman for regional prosecutors, Oxana Polshanova, said the fate of the passengers remained unknown.

Aviation crashes are frequent in Russia and are often blamed on ageing aircraft and poor maintenance.