United Nations insisted on Thursday in Juba that its helicopter was shot and crashed in South Sudan.
It said further that it was not known whether it had been downed by rebel or government forces.
Toby Lanzer, Officer-in-Charge of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), said “we are treating this as a hostile act to the United Nations. Helicopters fly, they don’t fall out of the sky.
The cargo helicopter crashed near the northern oil town of Bentiu on Tuesday, killing three Russian crew members. A fourth crew member survived with injuries.
He said this has become imperative because both government and opposition forces had been seen in that area.
Lanzer said the rebels had denied accusations by the government that they shot the helicopter down.
“For investigation purposes, we now have the black box, the control panel and the voice recorder.’’
He said all flights to Bentiu have been grounded for the time being.
“We hope to resume them as soon as possible. We are in discussion with both the Government and rebel forces and we have to ensure the people flying the helicopters are safe’’, he said
