Two Israeli pilots were killed and a third was injured when a military helicopter carrying out a training flight crashed in the Mediterranean on Monday, the Israeli General Staff said, adding that an investigation was under way.
The Atalef helicopter with three crew members crashed into the sea last night off Haifa, a large city in northern Israel, the army said in a brief statement.
Search-and-rescue teams, including members of the Israeli Navy, were immediately deployed at sea to retrieve the three crew members, the two pilots and the "observer".
But despite attempts to resuscitate them, "the two pilots were pronounced dead," the Israeli army said, adding that a third crew member was "slightly injured."
The commander-in-chief of the Israeli Air Force, Brigadier General Amikam Norkin, announced the temporary suspension of all air training centers after the accident and instructed a senior officer to investigate the "incident", the army said in a statement. at this stage no estimate of the causes of the crash.
חיפה התרסק מול חיפה חיפה - החילוץ בעיצומו
העדכונים העדכונים - https://t.co/nSA0CRCCr7 pic.twitter.com/N4HwvkOgcN
- חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) January 3, 2022
According to the Israeli television network Khan, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid were briefed overnight on the details of the rare fatal accident for the Israeli army.
Source: RES-EAP