Roundup: Greece mourns 3 dead after Greek Navy helicopter crash in Aegean, Turkey contests search

ATHENS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua)- - Greece was in mourning on Thursday over the deaths of three Greek Navy officers who perished when the helicopter they were on board crashed in the Aegean Sea during a military exercise.

The helicopter had taken off from a frigate and disappeared from the radars at 2:45 a.m local time (0045 GMT) on Thursday amid fair weather conditions, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, chief of the Hellenic National Defense general staff, told a press briefing in Athens.

Crash victims Lieutenant Anastasios Toulitsis, 36, Lieutenant Konstantinos Pananas, 33, and Warrant Officer Eleftherios Evangelou, 36, had not reported any problems before the crash, the admiral said.

The helicopter was flying at an altitude of about 120 meters when it went missing. According to ministry officials, it crashed on a rocky slope on Kinaros Island before falling into the sea.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed deep condolences to the families of the dead.

"It is a tragedy when lives are lost, especially in the line of duty assigned to them by the homeland. I requested the defense ministry conduct a thorough investigation into the causes of the accident," the Greek Premier said in an e-mailed statement.

Meanwhile, Turkey's reaction to the helicopter crash raised questions in Athens whether cooperation in the Aegean would be smooth.

Greek National Defense officials confirmed during the press briefing in the Greek capital that Turkey had issued a notice to the Greek Navy that the Greek rescue operation was within its maritime search and rescue region and therefore operations should be coordinated with Turkish authorities.

For the Greek side, there was no question that the search was carried out within Greek airspace and waters.

The two countries have been engaged in disputes over sovereignty rights in the Aegean Sea for decades dating back to the Imia/Kardak military crisis in 1996 in the Aegean.

Known as Imia islet by Greece and Kardak islet by Turkey, the islet was the subject of a dispute over sovereignty which arose after a Turkish cargo vessel ran aground on the islet on Christmas Eve 1995. Tension gradually increased in following days as the two sides could not agree which was responsible for the salvage operation.

Then, on the night of Jan. 31, 1996, a Greek helicopter with three officers on board crashed on Imia under initially unclear circumstances that further escalated tensions. With foreign mediation the crisis de-escalated, although the territorial issue remains unresolved. Endit