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DHAKA: Twelve military personnel including six cadets were killed in a Brunei air force helicopter crash while flying home after jungle training, according to a spokesman.
The crash occurred Friday in Kuala Belait in the oil-rich sultanate on the island of Borneo, Bangkok Post reports Saturday.
‘We have 12 fatalities in the helicopter crash. Two military cadets survived the crash,’ Brunei air force spokesman Norudin Salleh told media.
The defence ministry said the two survivors were in stable condition.
The Bell 212 military aircraft was carrying 14 people including the pilot.
The defence ministry on its website said Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah had expressed great sadness and extended his condolences to the families of the victims.
‘His Majesty hoped that they would be patient, and also prayed that the souls of the victims would be blessed and placed with the pious,’ it said.
It also said that while the ‘exact circumstances of this tragic incident remain to be determined, the ministry of defence is taking appropriate action to ascertain the facts’.
BDST: 1520 HRS, JUL 21, 2012
Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor