Rescue operations on missing Russian helicopter underway

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said Thursday that search-and-rescue operations were underway at the crash site of a Russian Mi-8 helicopter in the Greenland Sea.

"In the waters of the Greenland Sea, search-and-rescue operations are continuing to search for a Russian Mi-8 helicopter with the involvement of two helicopters and four sea-going vessels," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the Russian rescue team, which includes more than 20 divers along with deep-sea exploration special equipment and aerial drones, is working with the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Center on the search-and-rescue operations.

Nevertheless, the rescue mission is complicated by unfavorable weather conditions, it added.

In an earlier statement, the ministry said it confirmed a Mi-8 helicopter with eight Russian citizens on board had disappeared from radar screens while flying over the Greenland Sea somewhere 10 kilometers from the Barentsburg village on the Svalbard Islands within the territory of Norway.