NKR's authorities claim shelling of area of downed helicopter

The Azerbaijani party would not allow organizing the search of the crew of the helicopter shot down in the Karabakh conflict zone by shelling the site, David Babayan, the press secretary of the office of the head of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), has stated today.

He stressed that to date, the fate of the crew of the downed helicopter remains unknown.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in the afternoon on November 12, in the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a military helicopter was shot down. The death of three members of the crew was reported.

"The situation is generally controlled; however, so far, the Armenian party has not managed to approach the area, where the helicopter fell down, because until now it is under heavy shelling by the Azerbaijani party," said David Babayan, stressing that the NKR authorities had turned for help to the local mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The idea that one of the pilots could survive after the crash was suggested on November 13 by Senor Asratyan, the head of the press service of the NKR's Defence Army.

Today, the Yerevan office of the ICRC told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that negotiations are underway with both the Armenian and Azerbaijani parties; however, the work on searching the helicopter crew has not yet begun. The ICRC acts as a neutral mediator in the talks, said Etery Musaelyan, an employee of the committee.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.