Russian helicopter crashes in Syria, killing both pilots

A Russian helicopter crashed in Syria late on Monday killing both pilots , Moscow’ s defence ministry said in a statement carried by news agencies .“ A Russian Ka – 52 helicopter crashed while on a routine flight over the eastern regions of the Syrian Arab Republic . Both pilots were killed , ” the statement said , quoted by the TASS news agency.

It added that the incident “ may have been due to a technical malfunction” and that a rescue team recovered the bodies .

The incident is the Russian army ’ s second deadly crash in Syria in less than a week . On May 3 , a Russian fighter jet crashed after taking off from an airbase , killing both pilots .

Monday ’ s accident brings Russia ’ s official military losses in Syria to 88 .

Russian nationals are also regularly reported to be serving as paid mercenaries in Syria , and sometimes killed .

The most recent large military loss acknowledged by Russia came when a transport plane crashed on landing at the Hmeimim airbase in March , killing all 39 people on board .

AFP

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