NEW YORK, August 26 (RIA Novosti) – The helicopter that crashed in South Sudan Tuesday had a crew of Russian citizens, three of them died, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
He said the helicopter of the UN peacekeeping mission, which crashed in a violence-plagued area of South Sudan earlier in the day, was leased from a Russian company.
Three pilots died, one survivor was hospitalized, Dujarric said.
The investigation into the causes of the accident is underway.
A Mi-8 cargo helicopter carrying out a regular flight crashed about 10 kilometers south of Bentiu, gripped by clashes between the government and rebel fighters.
Late last year, armed clashes erupted in the capital of South Sudan, Juba, after President Salva Kiir accused his ex-deputy Riek Machar of attempting a coup. The conflict has led to numerous casualties and brought South Sudan, which gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 to the brink of a humanitarian disaster.
