TWO north Hampshire anglers were killed by a helicopter’s rotor blades in a freak accident on a luxury salmon fishing tour in Russia, an inquest heard.

Rupert Beaumont, a retired lawyer, and fine-art dealer Mark Robertson, both 69, died from head injuries with their guide Alexander Tushnikov, 53, in the tragedy on July 21 last year.

The three men had set off in a blue EC120B Eurocopter aircraft at 9.53am local time from the Rynda camp, a small fishing camp, around 150km south east of Murmansk, Russia.

A Basingstoke inquest heard that the helicopter landed heavily, and then fell over to the right – striking the three men who had got out of the aircraft just seconds earlier.

Photos of the wreckage site, with the helicopter on its side, were shown to the men’s shocked families at the hearing at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court.

Paul Hannant, a senior investigator at the Air Accident Investigation Branch, based at Farnborough, said the helicopter had passed all its maintenance checks, and praised Russian investigators for their “extremely professional” approach following the incident.

The helicopter, which had performed 970 flying hours, was certified until September 2014 and had no defects.

Mr Hannant said: “The helicopter landed heavily on the right skid and all the evidence in the report describes the damage as a result.

“The guide and the passengers got out but remained within the rotor disk, which is like a large dinner plate. The helicopter rolled on to its right side, fatally injuring the two passengers and the guide. This would have been very swift."

The report raised safety concerns about whether helicopter rotors should be kept running while people get in and out.

The helicopter was run under a private licence as the £4,000-a-week trip included the price of flights – otherwise stricter commercial rules could apply, the inquest heard.

A post mortem revealed Mr Beaumont, from Hartley Wintney, and Mr Robertson, from Mattingley, died from head injuries.

North East Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley concluded the two men died instantly in what was a “horrible” accident.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Bradley said: “It was quite clear this aircraft was being operated by a very experienced pilot in circumstances where he was very aware of the environment.

“It is quite clear the aircraft comes down very heavily, and causes the shearing off of the bracket, causing the helicopter to lose stability.

"Mr Robertson and Mr Beaumont, having left the aircraft with the guide, are standing by and the equipment is, or is about, to be taken off.

“The aircraft becomes unstable, it lurches to the side and the rotors come into contact with the guide, Mr Beaumont and Mr Robertson and causes their deaths. This is a horrible accident.”

At the hearing, Mr Bradley agreed to write to the AAIB after Mr Beaumont’s family called for tighter safety rules.

Matthew Reeve, speaking for Mr Beaumont’s family, said: “The family is concerned that there are people leaving the UK going to Russia, and they are not getting the standards of commercial flying which they are entitled to expect.

"We feel this may have been a commercial flight to which commercial standards should have been applied, but they were not."

Mr Robertson's son Tim Robertson said afterwards: “I support Mr Beaumont's family in their feeling that it is important to make the point that these flights are operating commercially rather than operating privately.

“Perhaps if they had flown under a commercial licence accidents like this might be prevented for others. My father and Mr Beaumont were unlucky.”