Three dead in Azerbaijan helicopter crash

• Tweet

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Three people died Monday when an ambulance helicopter for the Azerbaijani Army crashed into the Caspian Sea, officials said.

The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry said Capt. Ahmed Yashar Mail, senior Lt. Rustam Rustamov Gulhuseyn and Lt. Zeynalov Bahruz Novruz died when the aircraft crashed approximately 980 feet from Shikhov beach near Baku. No other people were on board at the time of the crash.

The helicopter was flying from Baku to Kurdamir to transport ill soldiers, the Azeri-Press Agency reported.

Two helicopters from the Ministry of Emergency Situations' aviation unit, rescue divers from the State Water Rescue Service and drivers from the Special Risk Rescue Service were at the site of the crash. They have recovered the body of Gulhuseyn, APA reported.

The cause of the helicopter's crash was not reported.