Two Israeli pilots were killed and a third soldier was injured when a military training helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean on Monday, the Israeli General Staff said earlier today.

The Atalef-type helicopter, with three crew members, crashed into the sea last night, off Haifa, a large city in northern Israel, the Army explained in a short statement.

Search-and-rescue teams, including members of the Israeli Navy, were immediately deployed at sea to evacuate the three crew members, the two pilots, and the “observer”.

But despite the resuscitation attempts “the two pilots were pronounced dead,” the Israeli Army said, adding that a third crew member was “slightly injured.”

The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Air Force, General Amikam Norkin, announced the temporary suspension of all air drills after the accident and instructed a senior officer to investigate the “incident”, the Army said in a statement currently making no estimate of the causes of the crash.

According to the Israeli television network Khan, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid were briefed overnight on the details of the rare fatal accident for the Israeli Army.

Source: AMNA

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