Two bodies have been recovered from the sea off the northern coast of Tunisia after a military helicopter with four people on board crashed overnight, the country’s defense ministry said today.

“The helicopter fell into the sea,” says the ministry’s announcement, adding that so far “two bodies and some debris have been recovered.”

The operation to locate the two missing persons continues, with the assistance of a team of divers.

A few hours earlier, the Ministry of Defense had announced that the fate of a military helicopter that was performing a night flight in the Bizerte area was unknown.

In October 2021, three soldiers were killed when the helicopter they were on crashed during a nighttime exercise in the Gabes region of southern Tunisia.