MOSCOW - A helicopter crashed in Russia's Murmansk region in northwest Russia on Sunday morning, killing three people, local authorities said.

The private helicopter had set off its emergency beacon signal about 150 km from the city of Murmansk earlier in the day, Itar-Tass news agency quoted local law enforcement authorities as saying.

Two of the dead were British nationals and one was Russian, the Northwestern Transport Prosecutor's Office told local media.

"Three people standing on the ground are most likely to have been killed by the rotor of the helicopter as it tried to take off," a press officer told reporters, adding the incident took place at a tourist camp.

An official from the Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsia confirmed the death toll, saying a local search and rescue team left for the scene of the alarm signal which was received at about 9:50 a.m. local time.

Rescuers and specialists arrived at the site and were examining the wreckage of the Eurocopter-120, which belonged to a Murmansk-based company. The helicopter's pilot survived the crash, local police said.