Desperate mobile call by helicopter crash survivor surrounded by 19 dead in Siberia
Survivors had to contend with serious injuries, as well as the freezing cold at the crash site near the Arctic Circle in northern Siberia
A SURVIVOR'S desperate plea for help while surrounded by the bodies of 19 killed in a horrific Russian helicopter crash has been revealed.
Seriously injured Alexey Veremev begged "where is the help? Will there be any help?" after the Mi-8 came crashing down close to the Arctic Circle in northern Siberia.
Only three people of the passengers and crew survived the devastating crash, with the helicopter spiralling into "thick fog" before crashing in temperatures of minus 7.
The oil worker frantically called emergency services, saying the survivors were "moaning" - with the others tragically silent.
He said: "Three are moaning, I am the fourth, And the rest do not even moan."
With his own leg trapped in the crash, he described the scene, saying: "One guy was able to climb out. He wanders around the helicopter, but he is kind of insane."
He admitted he had no idea where the helicopter had fallen from the sky.
He said: "I do not know where we are.
"Where is the help? Will there be any help?
"I cannot get out of the helicopter, my leg got caught."
Emergency workers finally managed to reach the remote crash site about five hours after the aircraft hit the ground,
RELATED STORIES
A law enforcement source said that three people had been found in a serious condition by rescuers reaching the site.
He said: "Rescuers that arrived at the site have entered the damaged helicopter, where they found three people in serious condition
"The other 19 passengers were killed."
The survivors suffered from head injuries, hip and rib fractures as well as hypotthermia.
Survivor Veremev, who made the desperate call for help, was flown to hospital in the closest settlement Urengoy by helicopter, while other two survivors received medical assistance on the spot "as their condition was assessed as critical".
The passengers on the helicopter were oil workers for a subsidiary of oil giant Rosneft.
The Emergencies Ministry said reports came at 6:57 pm Moscow time (4.57pm UK time) on Friday that a Mi-8 helicopter crash landed in 80 kilometres north-west of the Urengoy settlement in the Purovsky district of the Yamal-Nenets.
The helicopter was en route to Urengoy from the Suzumskoye oil field in Krasnoyarsk region.
The Russian Investigative Committee - equivalent of the FBI - has opened a criminal case into the crash.
In a statement, the Russian Investigative Committee said: "Investigators consider three main causes of the crash - violation of flight security measures, equipment malfunction, unfavourable weather conditions."
Investigations are ongoing.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368