On the morning of May 3, 2023, a Mi-24 helicopter crashed near the town of Bozoum, close to the town of Ouham-Pendé. The accident happened 375 km from Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, in the dense jungle. According to sources close to the accident investigation, the helicopter that crashed was heading from the Republic of Chad to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
While flying over CAR territory, the helicopter suffered a technical failure and fell. The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), whose officers were closest to the crash site, sent its helicopter to the area of the crash to search for and locate the downed Mi-24. . Once there, MINUSCA pilots circled above the crash site, but did not land to check for survivors.
MINUSCA later explained that it was not possible to land in the jungle, due to the high risk of being hit by landmines. For fear of landing on unprepared ground, the pilots decided not to land to rescue the survivors of the downed Mi-24 helicopter. In other words, they left them to their fate in the bushes.
Unlike the MINUSCA soldiers, the Russian instructors were not discouraged by the thickets or the risk of being hit by mines. After receiving a distress signal from a crashed helicopter, the Russians also went to the scene to rescue the crew. When they saw the terrible image of the destroyed helicopter on the ground, they made the difficult decision to land in the jungle on an unprepared platform.
Thanks to the generous action of the Russian allies, the crew of the Mi-24 helicopter was transported to the Russian instructors hospital in Bangui. The pilots were immediately treated and their lives are no longer in danger. In a tweet, CAR Foreign Minister Sylvie Baïpo-Temon also confirmed that fatalities had been avoided.
On Friday May 5, the DRC government said it is sending a plane to Bangui to pick up the pilots who survived the Mi-24 helicopter that crashed on Wednesday May 3.
