German Air Force helicopter crash in Saxony kills two, search ongoing

Armin Schuster (l-r, CDU), Saxony's Minister of the Interior, Boris Pistorius (SPD) Federal Minister of Defense, Holger Neumann, Lieutenant General of the German Air Force, and Andre Bodemann, Lieutenant General of the Bundeswehr's Operational Command, near the scene of a helicopter crash. Photo / Getty Images

At least two members of the German Air Force were killed when their helicopter crashed during a training flight in the east of the country, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

The crash happened near the town of Grimma in the eastern state of Saxony.

An Air Force spokeswoman told AFP that the two deceased crew members were “experienced” and said that a third was still being searched for.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that the two dead soldiers were members of the Air Force’s Helicopter Wing 64.

The helicopter had been hired for training purposes and crashed for as yet unknown reasons into the Mulde river earlier on Tuesday.

The EC-135 helicopter went missing in the morning and local police said that canoeists later spotted parts of the helicopter in the river.

More than 100 emergency service members, including police divers, joined the search for the crew.

A boom has been deployed in the Mulde because of kerosene leaking from the helicopter.

“The death of the crew members has affected me and the whole of the armed forces deeply. Our thoughts are with their relatives and relatives,” Pistorius said.

He added that “everything possible” would be done to investigate the circumstances of the crash.

– Agence France-Presse