Six people killed after helicopter crashes into reservoir in Sri Lanka
Six people are dead after a helicopter crash during a military parade.
The Bell 212 helicopter was carrying 12 people when it plunged into a reservoir in eastern Sri Lanka.
All of them were alive when they were recovered from the wreckage, but four special forces personnel and two air force gunners later died.
The other six, including two pilots, are being treated at Palonnaruwa Hospital. Their condition is unknown.
The military personnel had been taking part in a passing out ceremony when the incident happened in the early hours of this morning.
Footage shows that the aircraft split in half before it fell in the Maduru Oya Reservoir.
Emergency crews are still working among the floating wreckage and investigators are trying to work out how the helicopter crashed.
Sri Lankan Air Force spokesman group captain Eranda Geeganage declined to share further details on the possible cause of the crash.
The disaster came almost a year to the day since another Bell 212 helicopter crashed in Iran.
On May 19 last year, the same model of aircraft crashed near the city of Varzaqan, killing all eight people on board.
Among them was Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi who died along with seven others.
That crash, which also killed Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, happened as a result of bad weather.
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