in a second case, both during 1993. In the final case, Georgian Mi-8MTV carrying civilian refugees was shot down, killing 25 people. Georgian Air Force and Police currently operate about 20 Mi-8T/MTVs. Iraq Mi-8s were employed by the former Iraqi Army Aviation and Iraqi Air Force under Saddam Hussein. In the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s, there were air-to-air combat between Iraqi and Iranian Army Aviation helicopters, including between Iranian Bell AH-1J Cobras and Iraqi Mi-8s. South Sudan On 21 December 2012, a Nizhnevartovskavia owned Mi-8 working for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was shot down and crashed near Likuangole in the South Sudanese state of Jonglei during the South Sudan internal conflict. All four Russian crewmembers on board were killed, and after some initial confusion, a UN spokesman said that the South Sudanese army confirmed on 22 December that it mistakenly fired at the helicopter. On 26 August 2014, a UTair Aviation owned Mi-8 working for the United Nations crashed as it approached a landing airstrip near Bentiu. Three of the Russian crew members died and one was injured. Rebel commander Peter Gadet claimed that his forces brought it down using a rocket-propelled grenade. Soviet Union The Mi-8 family of helicopters became the main Soviet (and later Russian) helicopter, covering a large range of roles in both peace time and war time. Large fleets of Mi-8 and its derivatives were employed by both military and civil operators. Large numbers of Mi-8 family helicopters were used during the Soviet–Afghan War during the 1980s. Its rugged construction allowed easier in-theater operations and maintenance. A large number of Mi-8s were lost with several shot down by enemy fire, with the Mi-8 and its derivatives being the main aircraft model lost by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Between April and May 1986, Mi-8s were used in large numbers to drop radiation-absorbing materials into the No. 4 reactor of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the Chernobyl disaster, and the fire was extinguished by the combined effort of helicopters dropping over 5000 metric tons of sand, lead, clay, and neutron-absorbing boron onto the burning reactor and injecting liquid nitrogen into it. Most of the helicopters were severely irradiated and abandoned in a giant junkyard, the so-called "machines cemetery" near Chernobyl, with several disappearing from the site in later years. During the initial operation, one crashed near the power plant after hitting a