| Culled from a much larger, rambling BBC post. |
A Russian marine has been killed on a helicopter mission to rescue the crew of a jet downed by Turkey near the Syrian border on Tuesday. He died when his helicopter came under fire from rebels in northern Syria, where the plane crashed.
Rebel fire from the ground killed one of the jet's two crew members after they ejected.
Russian defence official Lt-Gen Sergey Rudskoy said the rest of the rescue team, which were using two Mi-8 helicopters, had been safely evacuated from the area to Russia's Humaymim air base near Latakia in Syria.
"During the operation, one of the helicopters came under small-arms fire, was damaged and made an emergency landing on neutral territory," he said. "One naval infantryman serving under contract was killed."
One of the helicopters was destroyed on the ground by "mortar fire" after making an emergency landing, the Russian general said.
Syrian rebels say they blew up the helicopter shortly after it landed with an anti-tank missile, releasing footage of the attack.
The fate of the Russian jet's other crew member remains unknown. |