YEREVAN. – The father of Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan, who was a crew member of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Air Force helicopter which Azerbaijan had shot down, has recognized the body of his son.

The Sahakyan family’s neighbors have told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am on Saturday.

“After hearing the news about bringing Azat’s body back, an ambulance had come to Azat’s home because they [, the family,] had a small hope that their son is still alive,” the neighbors added.

The Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire and shot down an NKR Air Force helicopter on November 12. The chopper was downed during a training flight, and it crashed very close to the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. As a result, three pilots were killed: the commander of the helicopter, Major Sergey Sahakyan, as well as Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan.

The adversary, on the other hand, was firing intensive shots toward the crash site, thus, not allowing access to the area.

But the remains of these three military servicemen plus some necessary parts of the chopper were removed from the helicopter’s crash site through a special operation by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic armed forces.