2007 Paramount Airlines Mil Mi-8 crash
Mil Mi-8 · Mechanical failure
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 22 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 23
- Survivors
- 1
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 1
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Mil Mi-8
- Aircraft type
- Mil MI-8
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 9L-LBT
- Operator
- Paramount Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 22
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 3 June 2007 a Mil Mi-8 helicopter operated by Paramount Airlines crashed near Lungi International Airport in Sierra Leone, killing 22 people.
Background
In 2007, helicopter, hovercraft, and sea ferry were the only practical ways to travel between the airport and the capital, Freetown, which are separated by the Sierra Leone River as it meets the Atlantic Ocean.
The passengers on board were Togolese football fans who were returning from watching their national team play that of Sierra Leone, and the two pilots were of Ukrainian origin. The passengers had chartered the aircraft specifically for the flight.
Crash and emergency response
According to an eyewitness, both pilots jumped out immediately prior to the crash. Later reports stated that 22 were killed, and that the Russian copilot was the only survivor.
The aircraft caught fire upon impact and was destroyed before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames.
According to airport witnesses the firefighters did not attend the scene until 40 minutes after the crash. The firefighter who had the keys to the fire truck was not at his station in the airport at the time. Airport staff had to douse the flames with buckets of water.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Togo sent a six-person delegation to help investigate the crash, as most of the dead were Togolese football fans visiting for an African Cup of Nations qualifying match on Sunday. They included Togolese Minister of Sports Richard Attipoe.
Sierra Leone's Minister of transport and communications Dr Prince Harding as well as the two top aviation officials in the country lost their jobs as a result of the crash and a commission of enquiry was set up.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2007 Paramount Airlines Mil Mi-8 crash” (revision 1364017795, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2007 Paramount Airlines Mil Mi-8 crash
- Revision
- 1364017795 · 2026-07-14 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4609109
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2007 Paramount Airlines Mil Mi-8 crash" (page 11578691, revision 1364017795)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.