The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stands ready to mediate in determining the fate of the pilots of the crashed helicopter.

The ICRC mission in Nagorno-Karabakh informed the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“According to the Geneva Agreement, the sides must immediately take all possible steps at all times, to search for and transfer the injured and the dead.

“The ICRC is ready to play the role of a neutral mediator, contribute to determining the fate of the pilots of the downed helicopter, and provide respective services,” the ICRC mission specifically stated.     

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Defense Minister and Defense Army Commander Movses Hakobyan had announced that Karabakh has petitioned to the International Committee of the Red Cross, with a request to become a mediator in returning the dead bodies of the helicopter’s three pilots to the Armenian side.    

An NKR Air Force helicopter was shot down on Wednesday, and as a result of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani armed forces. The helicopter was downed during a training flight in the airspace of the eastern sector of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. As a result, three pilots were killed: The commander of the helicopter, Major Sergey Sahakyan, and Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan. The OSCE Minsk Group, Armenia MFA, European Union, and United Nations representatives already have condemned this incident.