Russian authorities arrested two teenagers in Siberia this week for blowing up a Mi-8 helicopter by spraying it with a flammable liquid and throwing cigarettes at it.
The boys, aged 13 and 14, stormed an airport in Noyabrsk, a city 3,000 kilometres east of Moscow, to cause the incident. The Russian town is home to key oil and gas infrastructure.
According to Baza, the teenagers allegedly set the helicopter on fire using cigarettes. After they sprayed the helicopter with liquid, the boys decided to smoke and then threw a cigarette into the helicopter. There was no fire. Then one of the boys lit a second cigarette and then stuck it into the liquid.
At that moment, an explosion occurred. As a result, the boys' faces were badly burned, so after running a little away from the airport, the schoolchildren had to call an ambulance," the Telegram channel writes without citing a source.
The Mi-8T helicopter (RA-24519), valued at 14 million euros, was almost completely destroyed in the explosion, according to Baza.
Media reports have leaked that the father of one of the boys is fighting in a so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The suspects, who have only been given the names Timur and Alexander , sneaked into the airport through a hole in the fence. They were arrested after going to hospital for treatment.
The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Health Department reported that as a result of the incident, the teenagers received burns to their faces and hands.
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