According to the RIA news agency, Russian Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev died on Wednesday during a training exercise in the Arctic.

Zinichev, 55, who has led the high-profile emergency ministry since 2018, died while saving someone's life, according to RIA, which did not provide any information.

“...Zinichev tragically died while performing official duties during inter-departmental drills to prevent crises in the Arctic, saving someone's life,” the ministry said, according to RIA.

Zinichev was standing on a ledge with a cameraman who slipped and went into some water, according to Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia's RT television program.

She stated on Twitter, "There were a lot of witnesses – no one even had time to think about what had happened when Zinichev threw himself into the water for the fallen person and crashed into a protruding rock."

Simonyan stated that the cameraman had also perished.

Zinichev was in the Arctic to supervise large-scale drills and inspected the site of a new fire station in Norilsk and a search and rescue team in the area, according to a statement released by the ministry earlier on Wednesday.

Zinichev worked as a deputy director of the Federal Security Service and briefly as the acting regional governor of Kaliningrad before becoming a minister.

According to Russian media, he used to be President Vladimir Putin's bodyguard and personal aide. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, informed Russian news outlets that Putin had expressed his sympathies.