A helicopter carrying ammonite - used to break ice - crashed in Irkutsk region after 'exploding in mid air'.
Irkutsk officials say supplies to major city could run out but Russian government says more analysis of environmental impact needed.
With smoke having blown as far as the US and Canada, experts now say 'the trend is positive' in controlling fires raging from the Urals to the Pacific.
Oilmen forced to stop work after being trapped in 'horseshoe' of burning taiga, as pall of smoke smothers Irkutsk region where state of emergency imposed.
Thousands of hectares of land ablaze with no signs of a let-up.
Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk suffering smoke pollution and infernos rage in forests after hot, dry weather.
State of emergency in Irkutsk region as President Vladimir Putin flies in amid carnage from heavy rain - with ‘worse to come’.
Hopes fade of finding 13 people, six weeks after Tyva Avia aircraft went missing in remote and mountainous region.
Forest infernos will be extinguished by the weekend, pledges government, as wildfires become political issue in Moscow.
Il-76 plane crashed while battling wildfires; Minister vows 'We will never forget them.'