The missing helicopter had picked up passengers near the ancient Vachkajec volcano, in a picturesque part of the peninsula known for its wild landscapes.
A helicopter with 22 people on board, most of them tourists, has disappeared off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East, authorities said.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said they lost communication with a Mi-8 helicopter at 04:15 GMT “which had 22 people on board: 19 passengers and three crew members,” in a video posted on Telegram on Saturday.
Rescue teams in helicopters searched overnight for the missing plane, focusing on a river valley through which the helicopter was due to fly, Russian officials said.
The Mi-8 is a twin-engine helicopter designed in the 1960s. It is widely used in Russia, where accidents have been frequent, as well as in neighboring countries and many other nations.
The helicopter had picked up passengers near the ancient Vachkajec volcano, in a picturesque part of the peninsula known for its wild landscapes and active volcanoes.
From there it headed to the town of Nikolayevka further east, a distance of about 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles), authorities said.
An emergency services source told state news agency TASS that the helicopter disappeared from radar almost immediately after takeoff and the crew reported no problems.
The local weather service said visibility was poor in the airport area.
Accidents involving planes and helicopters are common in Russia's sparsely populated Far Eastern region, where the climate is often harsh.
In August 2021, a Mi-8 helicopter with 16 people on board, including 13 tourists, crashed into a lake in Kamchatka due to poor visibility, killing eight people. In July of that year, a plane crashed upon landing on the peninsula, with 22 passengers and six crew on board, all of whom died.
