Pilot of crashed Mi-8 was a native of Kazakhstan
47-year-old Victor Provalny had a wife and two children. Vitaly Provalny worked as an instructor in Pugachevsky military college in Saratov region, according to 360 TV channel.
"Earlier he was a military pilot. We were in Chechnya with him together. Vitaly is very experienced. After school he worked as an instructor in Pugachev, a town in Saratov region. I know that he has been in civil aviation now, near Tyumen, his work is connected with oil and gas. He is a first class pilot. He had the rank of major", - Igor, the pilot's friend, told the TV channel.
According to him, 47-year-old Vitaly Provalny was born in Kazakhstan, graduated from the Syzran highest military aviation college of pilots, faculty of army aircraft.
According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, yesterday, approximately from 19:00 till 20:00 local time, in the Purovsky Region of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area Mi-8 helicopter of Skol airline heading from the Suzumsky field of Krasnoyarskoy Krai to Urengoy village crashed. Onboard there were 22 persons - 3 crew members and 19 passengers. According to preliminary data, 19 died on the scene, three were taken to New Urengoy city hospital, the air craft is destroyed.
Three main versions of the crash are considered by the investigation: violation of the rules of operation and safety during flight, failure of the equipment, adverse meteoconditions. None of them is a priority at the moment
Now the officials of the New Urengoy investigation office on transport of the Uralsk Investigation Department of the Russian Investigation Committee, and law enforcement officers are carrying out inspections of the scene, studying the fragments of the air vehicle, and also the adjacent territory and bodies of the dead.
Investigation of the criminal case continues.