Helicopter crash in Brovary leaves 14 dead, including Ukrainian interior minister and his deputy (UPDATED)

The officials were travelling in a helicopter of the State Emergency Service, head of the National Police Ihor Klymenko reported after news of the tragedy broke.

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Nine of those killed were on board the aircraft. Fourteen people, including a child, are reported to have been killed as a result of the crash. Twenty-two people are in hospital, including 10 children.

The helicopter crashed near a kindergarten and high-rise buildings on the morning of Jan. 18. Investigators are working to establish the cause of the crash. Conditions in the Kyiv area in the morning were foggy, with low cloud and low visibility.

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Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko said there were several possible causes of the crash of the helicopter with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Brovary.

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However, he said that so far the cause of the crash is only a matter of speculation.

“The causes of the tragedy are being established by investigators. Whether it was a sabotage, a malfunction of the equipment, a violation of flight safety rules, we will soon find out,” Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram.

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There is already speculation in Ukrainian media that the crash was caused by a high-building aviation obstacle warning light not being operational because of a power outage in the area, but this has not been confirmed.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine