By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 23 March 2014:
A body found today near Brega may be that of one of the pilots on board . . .[restrict]the helicopter that went missing after it flew out of Sidra on 12 February, according to the head of Brega Military Council, Colonel Abdullah Maghrebi. The body had not been identified so far but was wearing a pilot’s uniform, he said.
According to a source at Benghazi Joint Security Room, the body was found at Umm Al-Ghraniq near Qaryat Bishr west of Brega.
There have been claims that the helicopter was shot down after it left Sidra heading for Benghazi, a flight that should have taken it out over the sea. It had five military personnel on board, three of them Air Force pilots.
However, there are other reports that it was shot at as it was leaving the airfield, although whether this caused it to then crash is unknown. So far the only parts of the helicopter that have been found are its rotor blades which snapped off when it presumably crashed. They are said to show no sign of corrosion from contact with sea water.
This has led investigators to believe that it may have crashed on land and been deliberately removed and hidden with the bodies of those on board secretly buried. [/restrict]
