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Two generals, two pilots die as helicopter crashes in Cambodia

Two generals who led the helicopter unit of Cambodia's air force were killed in a crash yesterday, along with two pilots, police said.

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Soldiers use a crane to lift the chopper from a pond. Photo: AP

Two generals who led the helicopter unit of Cambodia's air force were killed in a crash yesterday, along with two pilots, police said.

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Defence Minister Tea Banh, who rushed to the crash site in a muddy pond south of the capital, said a fifth person on the chopper was seriously injured.

General Um Phy, deputy chief of staff of Cambodia's air force, said the aircraft was a Chinese-made Z-9 helicopter.

It was not clear what caused the accident, which police said was a training mission for new pilots.

Two of the dead men were a major general and a brigadier general, Phnom Penh deputy police chief Chuon Narin said. The generals were the head and deputy head of the helicopter unit, and the other two were pilots.

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The chopper went down about 10km south of Phnom Penh, sinking in a rain-filled excavated rice field surrounded by rural land.

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