ΙΜΙΑ-Η ΑΛΛΗ ΠΛΕΥΡΑ ΤΟΥ ΝΟΜΙΣΜΑΤΟΣ(Βίντεο)

A statement issued by the Turkish General Staff headquarters said a fourth crew member was missing.

It said the helicopter, an Augusta-Bell AB-212, had taken off from the Turkish navy frigate TGC Barbaros for night training before it plunged to the sea at about 3 a.m., southeast of the Greek island of Rhodes,killing the pilot, Lt. Kadir Senerand warrant officersAhmet Sezgin and Tevfik Ozdemir. The missing copilot was identified as Lt. Selcuk Esedoglu.A search and rescue operation was underway to find the missing officer, the statement said.

Turkish news agency Anatolia said the crew of the crashed helicopter had been picked up by the mothership. The copter was found capsized on the surface with the dead crewmen trapped inside Greek navy participated in the search operation with a C-130 aircraft, helicopters based in Rhodes as well as the frigate Adrias, Anatolia said.

This is the second fatal helicopter crash the Turkish navy suffered this year in the area where disputes over small islets have rekindled decades-long tensions between NATO members Turkey and Greece. In January a Sikorsky “Black Hawk” crashed, killing Turkish marine commandoes right after the two countries returned from the brink of war over the ownership of the Kardak rocks.