Yerevan hosts memorial service for crew members of downed helicopter

A commemoration service for the perished crew of the Nagorno-Karabakh military helicopter downed by Azerbaijani troops was held on Monday, November 24, in Yerevan.

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 commemoration service was attended by President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Ovik Abrahamyan, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, Defence Minister Seyran Oganyan, members of the government, MPs and senior officers of the Armed Forces.

"The operation of special agents to return the bodies of the pilots was carried out brilliantly. Usually, during such operations entail huge losses among the performers; however, we suffered no losses. We admire our scouts," the "News-Armenia" quotes Vachagan Stepanyan, a colleague of Sergey Sahakyan, the commander of the downed helicopter.

Major Sergey Sahakyan was 38 years old; he was married and had three sons. Senior Lieutenant Sarkis Nazaryan was 25 years old; and the 22-year-old Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan lived in Charentsavan and was the only son in the family. All the three pilot were born in Yerevan; they graduated from the Air Force Institute of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Armenia; and they served in the Air Force of the Armenian Army.

Let us remind you that on November 22, Bako Sahakyan, President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) signed a decree to award the crew of the downed Mi-24 with the Medal "For Courage" posthumously.

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