Mi-8 (Photo: Russian media)

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter with five people onboard has gone missing in Irkutsk Oblast, according to Russian propaganda media.

The helicopter lost contact in the vicinity of the settlement of Razdolye in the Usolsky district, which is on the border between the Republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast.

It is known that the helicopter was following the route Irkutsk – Orlik. Onboard were reportedly five people: three crew members and two passengers.

Russian operational services are leaning towards the possibility of an aviation disaster.

Earlier, on August 31, 2024, it was reported that another Mi-8 helicopter went missing in the vicinity of the Vachkazhets volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula. That helicopter had 22 people onboard.

The next day, its wreckage was found on a mountainside.