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.
Two generals who led the helicopter unit of Cambodia's air force were killed in a crash yesterday, along with two pilots, police said.
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.
The chopper went down about 10km south of Phnom Penh, sinking in a rain-filled excavated rice field surrounded by rural land.