MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. A Mil Mi-28N strike helicopter of the Russian Aerospace Forces has crashed in Syria, two its crewmembers have been killed. The helicopter was not downed, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service reported on Tuesday.
"At 01:29, Moscow time on April 12, 2016, a Mi-28N helicopter of the Russian Aerospace Forces crashed during a mission in the area of the city of Homs [in the Syrian Arab Republic]. Two crewmembers [of the helicopter] were killed," the ministry said in a statement received by TASS.
"According to a report from the crash site, the helicopter did not come under fire," the press service said.
The Defense Ministry added that rescuers have evacuated the bodies of the pilots to the Khmeimim airbase. According to the ministry, a team of flight investigation experts was dispatched to the helicopter crash scene for a probe. The causes of the flight accident were being ascertained.
A high-ranking source in the Russian defense industry told TASS the helicopter's home base was the Budyonnovsk military airbase in the Stavropol territory of Russia.