An Algerian Navy AgustaWestland AW101 Mk.610 Merlin, operating by 560 ERS, has crashed into the sea off Bouharoun. There is said to have been at least one fatality. Two occupants are missing.
Ennahar private television broadcasted an amateur video footage showing the helicopter turning around and loosing control before crashing into a calm sea, not far from Bouharoun locality.
The source added that the pilot was killed while a wide-scale search operation is underway by Coast Guards units to rescue the rest of the missing crew members.
An Algerian lieutenant died on Wednesday following the crash of a helicopter at sea in Bouharoun, wilaya of Tipaza (Algeria), said a statement from the Algerian Ministry of Defense, specifying that searches to find the other two members of the crew continue.
“During a technical training flight mission, this morning Wednesday, December 16, 2020, and at 11:25 am, a type military search and rescue helicopter (MS-25 Merlin) under the command of the Naval Forces, was crashed off the sea two (02) nautical miles northwest of the coast of the city of Bouharoun, wilaya of Tipaza / 1st Military Region, where we deplore the martyrdom of Lieutenant Bouzayda Nouredine, one of the members the crew of the aircraft composed of three officers ”, said the Algerian Ministry of Defense.
“The search operation for the two (02) other pilots is still in progress where the necessary search and rescue means are mobilized”, he adds.
The latest accident of an aircraft in Algeria dates back to May 2019, when a military helicopter crashed in the province of El Oued, as the two crew members were injured. Enditem
