A HERO pilot had a fatal heart attack mid-air – but incredibly still managed to land his helicopter full of sightseers on a volcano before he died.
Igor Kan, 59, fell gravely ill while solo-flying a chopper with three onboard to see the Krasheninnikov volcano in eastern Russia – which erupted this week for the first time in 600 years.
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Battling the pain of a heart attack, he bravely made an emergency landing on the volcano to save the lives of his passengers.
The pilot died before an air ambulance could reach him, but the three passengers were safely evacuated.
The Kamchatka prosecutor’s office said: “The pilot of a private helicopter carrying four passengers suffered a heart attack, but managed to make an emergency landing and requested medical assistance.
“The pilot died before the arrival of the medical helicopter.
“He felt unwell during the landing on the volcano.”
Rescuers quickly arrived on the scene after the pilot himself sent out an urgent plea, according to local reports.
But tragically, the heart attack had killed him by the time they arrived.
His three sightseers were unharmed in the ordeal.
Igor offered aerial tours over the the spectacular Krasheninnikov volcano as well as the Valley of the Geysers, one of Russia’s leading tourists sights.
He reportedly charged £4,700 for a seat in the helicopter.
Friends said that he regularly took tourists on private trips in his Robinsons helicopter, and that he underwent regular medical check-ups.
An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of his death.
The Krasheninnikov volcano roared back to life after 600 years of dormancy following last week’s major 8.8 Richter scale earthquake.
A chain of other volcanoes has been set off – with the Ring of Fire – with at least six showing signs of activity following the quake.
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Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the largest volcano in the region, exploded at three miles with a stream of scalding lava just hours after the enormous earthquake in the Pacific last week.
The 7,000 year old volcano has been active since April but the volcano is now “exhibiting heightened unrest with increased likelihood of eruption”.
Then on Sunday, the Krasheninnikov volcano spewed a colossal column of ash nearly four miles into the sky in the “historic” eruption.
Shiveluch volcano – some two miles high – is now seen as in the erupting stage.
Another erupting volcano Bezymianny – at 1.8 miles high – is issuing “aerosol clouds [which] may pose a hazard to local flights”.
The smaller Karymsky at nearly one mile – is showing similar signs, and also erupting.
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