Radial Keratotomy Developer Killed

Eye surgeon Svyatoslav Fyodorov who pioneered radial keratotomy, an operation to correct nearsightedness - died Friday when his helicopter crashed in Moscow, a police spokesman said.

The three other people aboard were also killed, officials said. Their identities were not immediately available.

There was no immediate word on the possible cause of the crash, but ITAR-Tass cited witnesses as saying the helicopter was emitting black smoke just before it went down.

Fyodorov, 72, made his name in the 1970s by developing radial keratotomy, the first corneal surgery to correct nearsightedness. The procedure, in which surgeons use a knife to make small slices on the cornea, flattening it for better sight, was the precursor to laser surgery.