Two students set Mi-8 helicopter on fire in Russia - media

This was reported by the Russian Telegram channel BAZA.

It is noted that the incident occurred on the night of September 11. Thus, two boys aged 13 and 14 sneaked into the territory of the helipad at the Noyabrsk airport, after which they doused the Mi-8 helicopter with flammable liquid and set it on fire.

The boys fled the scene, but were arrested an hour later. According to BAZA, the schoolchildren set the helicopter on fire with cigarettes.

After they had doused the helicopter with liquid, the boys decided to smoke and then threw a cigarette into the helicopter. There was no fire. But then one of the boys smoked a second cigarette and then stuck it into the liquid. The explosion occurred at that moment.

As a result, the teenagers' faces were severely burned, so they had to call an ambulance after running a little distance from the airport. The doctors took the arsonists to the hospital. The helicopter burned down almost completely - only the tail remained.

During a conversation with law enforcement officers, the schoolchildren said that they had been promised 5 million rubles (approximately UAH 2.24 million) for their “work”. The boys also admitted that a few days ago they had set fire to a cell tower. For this, they received 30 thousand rubles.

It is noted that the father of one of the teenagers is currently fighting against Ukraine. 

• On September 2, Russia lost contact with a Soviet Mi-8 multipurpose helicopter. Later, it made a “hard landing” on the border between the Irkutsk region and Buryatia.