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A helicopter taking part in the battle against forest fires in eastern Russia has crashed, killing all 12 people on board. It is not known why the Mi-26 came down in the remote region of Chita. Four journalists were among those killed. Huge firefighting planes capable of carrying up to 40 tonnes of water have been brought into action to fight the raging fires, which are blamed on dry weather and high winds.

firefighting is one of the toughest jobs for helicopters, especially in those remote areas.

CNN blames it on the helicopter being in a bad state, but BBC (which calls it a M-16...)says it was caused by a freak gust (a bag capable of carrying 16 tonnes of water is quite big I think)

The big Ilyushins and Be-200's are as capable firefighters as the C-215/415 they use in Canada and the US.