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Curiouser & curiouser. This just after it was announced that it was a Soviet-made bomb that blew up the U.N. HQ in the Vieira assassination. [EMAIL PROTECTED] /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ Helicopter Carrying Russian Governor and Aides Disappears August 20, 2003 By STEVEN LEE MYERS MOSCOW, Aug. 20 - A helicopter carrying the governor and other senior officials from the Pacific region of Sakhalin disappeared today while flying toward the Kurile Islands. An airborne search for the helicopter was suspended at nightfall, dimming hopes that the helicopter and those aboard would be found safe. There were conflicting reports on the number of people on the helicopter, but a spokeswoman for the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said tonight that as many as 18 passengers and 3 crew members were believed to have boarded before it took off from an airport on the Kamchatka Peninsula at 2:45 p.m. local time. Its last radio message came 15 minutes later, and the helicopter failed to reach its scheduled destination, the city of Severo-Kurilsk on the island of Paramushir, according to officials cited in Russian news reports. Kamchatka is rugged and sparsely populated, vastly complicating the search. The helicopter presumably went down near the peninsula's southern tip or plunged into the Sea of Okhotsk. One official told NTV tonight that there was a chance the helicopter landed safely and was simply out of radio contact. The Russian defense minister, Sergei B. Ivanov, ordered naval warships to join the search. The Russian military has been conducting one of its largest exercises since the collapse of the Soviet Union along the country's eastern coast. The exercise, involving 75 warships, more than 20 aircraft and 30,000 troops, prompted a declaration of emergency rule in Sakhalin, as well as the Primorye and Khabarovsk regions. The emergency rule tightened security and imposed restrictions on travel, financial transfers and the news media. Sakhalin's governor, Igor P. Farkhutdinov, 53, has served in his post since 1995, when President Boris N. Yeltsin appointed him by decree. He was elected to the governorship in 2000. From 1996 to 2001, he also simultaneously served as a member of the upper house of the Russian Parliament, the Federation Council. As governor, he has overseen an economic boon in Sakhalin, spurred by foreign investment in the region's oil and gas industry. In an interview in May, Mr. Farkhutdinov, genial and smartly dressed, confidently predicted that foreign investment in the remote island region would double to $1.3 billion this year, putting it on track to surpass Moscow as the country's top destination for foreign capital. Among the other passengers on board were his aides and deputies overseeing the region's health, transport, education, energy and fishing departments. The Interfax news agency reported that they were flying to Severo-Kurilsk to discuss preparations for the coming winter. The helicopter, a civilian Mi-8 operated by a company called GUP-Khalatyrka, is a typical of those routinely used to traverse Russia's remote, far-flung regions, especially in Siberia and the Far East. The model is considered one of the most reliable built in the Soviet Union, but many of those in operation are reported to suffer from age, inadequate maintenance and poor training, and crashes are common. In April 2002, Aleksandr I. Lebed, the former general, presidential candidate and governor of the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, and seven others died in April 2002 when the Mi-8 they were riding in hit a power line in heavy fog and crashed. Earlier this month, a regional court indicted the helicopter's two pilots, who survived, charging them with violating safety procedures. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/20/international/europe/20CND-RUSS.html?ex=1062421002&ei=1&en=77528a6805e2bc87 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! 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