An army helicopter crashed in southeast Turkey on Thursday, March 4, killing 11 military personnel and injuring two others, the defence ministry said, according to Al Jazeera.

The Cougar-type helicopter crashed near the village of Cekmece, close to the town of Tatvan, in the predominantly Kurdish-populated Bitlis province. It was on its way to Tatvan from the nearby province of Bingol when authorities lost contact with it at 2:25pm (11:25 GMT), the ministry said.

Nine of the victims died at the crash site, while two died of their injuries in hospital, officials said.

The victims included Lieutenant-General Osman Erbas, an army corps commander, said Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s main nationalist party, on Twitter.

The defence ministry described the crash as accidental but did not elaborate.

The Cougar family of multipurpose helicopters was developed by France and are now produced by Airbus. The accident occurred in a region where Turkish forces regularly conduct military operations against the Kurds.