A Mi-8 helicopter crashed on Wednesday in Russia's southern region of Volgograd, killing six people on board, news agencies reported.

The chopper with eight people aboard took off from Volgograd at 08:02 a.m. Moscow time (0402 GMT), said RIA Novosti, quoting a source in Russia's air navigation service.

"Preliminary reports said six out of eight people on board have died," said the source, adding that the other two suffered severe injuries.

The helicopter crashed near a village in Kotovsky district, some 25 km from its destination of Kotovo, said Itar-Tass, quoting a source from the Emergency Situations Ministry's regional department.

"The helicopter disappeared from radars at 10:17 a.m. Moscow time (0617 GMT) and, according to preliminary information, crashed near the village of Moiseevo," the source said.

Rescue and fire-fighting teams were working at the scene, fighting a fire which broke out after the crash.

There were conflicting reports about the owner of the chopper. RIA Novosti said it belonged to Russian energy giant Gazprom, while Itar-Tass said the owner was oil company Lukoil as there were three crew members and five Lukoil specialists on it.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2009)