TWO Britons were among three people killed in a helicopter crash in northern Russia yesterday.

The private Eurocopter crashed in the Murmansk region on the Kola Peninsula, according to Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.

It said the helicopter banked on one side and crashed on take off.

Reports in Russia quoted local officials as saying a Russian and two British tourists died in the crash.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in touch with the local authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance."

Reports said the Britons were on a fishing trip, and that their Russian guide was the other victim.

A spokesman for
Eurocopter said the heli-copter was an EC-120. "We are awaiting more information from Russia and are ready to give any support that is needed," he said.

It was reported the anglers were in their late 60s and were killed in the crash at a tourist camp on the Rynda river about 90 miles east of Murmansk.

Reports varied as to whether the helicopter was hit by a gust of wind as it tried to take off and fell on the men or whether it tilted on its side while on the ground and hit them with its rotor blades.

A company called Atlantic Salmon Reserve runs a fishing camp called Rynda Lodge, according to reports.

Justin Maxwell Stuart, who runs UK-based travel agency Where Wise Men Fish, has organised tours to the camp and was quoted as saying: "It's awful news. As far as I know this is the first such incident with a helicopter since fishing began on the Kola Peninsula."