On 29 July 2022, an

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

helicopter belonging to the

Border Police of Georgia The Border Police of Georgia (Georgian: შსს-ის საქართველოს სასაზღვრო პოლიცია) is the primary border guarding force and coast guard in the country of Georgia, and is under command of ...

crashed during a rescue mission in a mountainous valley near

Gudauri Gudauri ( ka, გუდაური) is a ski resort located on the south-facing plateau of The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in Georgia. The resort is situated in the Stepantsminda District, along the Georgian Military Highway near the Jvari ...

, a

Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus ( az, Böyük Qafqaz, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; ka, დიდი კავკასიონი, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; russian: Большой Кавказ, ''Bolshoy Kavkaz'', sometimes translat ...

mountain resort in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

's northeast. All eight people on board died.

Accident

On 29 July 2022, a tandem

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like 'po ...

suffered an accident near Gudauri, with the two occupants falling into a deep rocky gorge. The Border Police of Georgia dispatched a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-designed Mi-8 helicopter—piloted by the veteran officer Colonel Zaza Loria—on a rescue mission. The helicopter lost control while hovering over the gorge and crashed, killing all eight people on board, including four crew members, two emergency physicians, and two rescuers. Subsequently, one of the people paragliding, a foreign tourist, was also found dead; the other, injured, was retrieved by ambulance to safety. According to a police report, a

tail rotor The tail rotor is a smaller rotor mounted vertically or near-vertically at the tail of a traditional single-rotor helicopter, where it rotates to generate a propeller-like horizontal thrust in the same direction as the main rotor's rotation. The ...

failure might have caused the crash.

Reactions

After the crash, the next day was declared a

national day of mourning A national day of mourning is a day or days marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of ...

in Georgia. President of Georgia

Salome Zourabichvili Salome Zourabichvili ( ka, სალომე ზურაბიშვილი, ; born 18 March 1952) is a Franco-Georgian political figure and former diplomat who currently serves as the fifth President of Georgia, in office since December 2018 ...

posthumously awarded the crew, rescuers and first responders with the Medal for Civic Dedication. The accident also reignited a broader discussion about the safety of paragliding business, which remained largely unregulated at the time of the disaster, and the ability of the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

to handle similar incidents with the available equipment and transports.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 2022

Aviation accidents and incidents in Georgia (country) Accidents and incidents involving the Mil Mi-8 2022 disasters in Europe Mtskheta-Mtianeti