Illustrative image. (U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Corey Hook)
Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said on March 22 that seven people, including four Qatari Armed Forces service members, one Turkish Armed Forces service member, and two technicians from Turkish defense company ASELSAN, were killed in a helicopter crash in Qatar.
The helicopter — which belonged to the Qatari Air Force (QAF) — was conducting training activities under the Qatar-Turkish Combined Joint Force Command, when it crashed into the sea a day earlier due to a “technical malfunction,” according to the ministry’s statement.
“With the launch of search and rescue operations, the wreckage of the helicopter and the bodies of our martyrs have been reached. In the accident, four Qatari Armed Forces personnel, one Turkish Armed Forces member, and two ASELSAN personnel technicians were martyred,” the statement said.
It added that the exact cause of the helicopter crash will be determined following an investigation by relevant Qatari authorities.
Earlier, Qatar’s Defense Ministry said that the helicopter suffered a “technical malfunction” during a routine mission and crashed in the country’s regional waters.
At least six of the bodies have been retried so far, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, which said that specialized teams are continuing intensive efforts to locate the remaining missing person.
The type of the helicopter is still unknown, but taking into account that it was carrying seven it is safe to assume that it was either an NHIndustries NH90 or an AgustaWestland AW139 of QAF.
While preliminary statements from both Qatar and Turkey suggest that the helicopter crashed as a result of some “technical malfunction,” rumors that spread online suggested that the incident was in fact caused by a failed attempt to intercept an Iranian drone.
Since the start of the American-Israeli war on Iran more than three weeks ago, Qatar, like the rest of Gulf countries, has reported missile and drone attacks against its territories on a near daily basis.
A helicopter, reportedly an American-made AH-64 Apache, crashed in the United Arab Emirates on May 9, killing two pilots from the country’s air force. It was also reported at the time that a failed attempt to intercept an Iranian drone caused the deadly crash.
The presence of technicians from ASELSAN, which produces anti-drone systems, aboard the crashed Qatari helicopter could be an evidence that the rumors of a drone hit are true.
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syria was the first domino that will cause the destruction of the entire brics. the brazilians and chinese should release the most deadly and contagious virus in latakia to make the traitorous alawites pay dearly for their destruction of the brics.
turkey is about to join the war…heheheh