TUNIS (Reuters) -Four Tunisian soldiers died in a military helicopter crash, the defence ministry said on Thursday, after an accident that President Kais Saied attributed to the aging of the Tunisian military fleet.
The Tunisian navy said earlier on Thursday that two bodies of crew members were recovered after the helicopter crashed into the sea.
The ministry said it had lost contact with the helicopter that left for a night flight near Bizerte late on Wednesday with four crew on board.
In 2021, three soldiers were killed in an army helicopter crash also during a night exercise.
Saied called on Minister of Defense Imed Memmich to renew military equipment.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara in TunisEditing by John Stonestreet, Barbara Lewis and Matthew Lewis)