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16 feared dead in helicopter ‘hard landing’ in Tajikistan: govt
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, Aug 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Up to 16 people, including
13 climbers and 3 helicopter crew, are unaccounted for after a “hard landing”
in the mountains of Tajikistan, the Central Asian country’s emergency
committee said Monday.
The accident took place on Sunday at 1130 GMT, the committee said, and two
helicopters have been sent on a rescue and recovery mission to the crash
site.
The emergency committee said the climbers were returning from an expedition
up the Ismoili Somoni mountain, once known as Peak Communism and the highest
mountain in the former Soviet Union.
The statement did not identify the climbers or the crew.
The accident comes two weeks after four Western cyclists were killed in an
attack initially reported as a hit-and-run road accident, striking a blow to
the country’s emerging tourism sector. The Islamic State group said it
carried out the attack — ramming the tourists with a car and attacking them
with knives — but the authoritarian government refused to acknowledge the
group’s claim.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1412 hrs