Military Helicopter Crash Kills 3 in Training Exercise in NY

FILE: A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the Kansas National Guard carries a water bucket as it prepares to help fight the Anderson Creek wildfire in southern Kansas, March 25, 2016. Picture taken March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Kansas National Guard via social media/Sgt. Zachary Sheely/Handout via Reuters
FILE: A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the Kansas National Guard carries a water bucket as it prepares to help fight the Anderson Creek wildfire in southern Kansas, March 25, 2016. Picture taken March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Kansas National Guard via social media/Sgt. Zachary Sheely/Handout via Reuters
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Military Helicopter Crash Kills 3 in Training Exercise in NY

FILE: A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the Kansas National Guard carries a water bucket as it prepares to help fight the Anderson Creek wildfire in southern Kansas, March 25, 2016. Picture taken March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Kansas National Guard via social media/Sgt. Zachary Sheely/Handout via Reuters
FILE: A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the Kansas National Guard carries a water bucket as it prepares to help fight the Anderson Creek wildfire in southern Kansas, March 25, 2016. Picture taken March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Kansas National Guard via social media/Sgt. Zachary Sheely/Handout via Reuters

Three National Guard members on a training flight were killed Wednesday when their helicopter crashed in a farmer's field in western New York.

The craft, a UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopter, crashed around 6:30 p.m. in Mendon, New York, a rural town south of Rochester, officials said.

The circumstances were under investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would take part, The Associated Press reported.

Photos of the crash scene posted by local news media showed the aircraft wreckage burning on a snow-covered field.

The helicopter flew out of the Army Aviation Support Facility at Rochester International Airport, and was assigned to C Company of the 1st Battalion, 171st General Support Aviation Battalion, according to Eric Durr, public affairs director of the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said flags on state buildings would be lowered to half-staff on Thursday to pay tribute to the troops.

“National Guard members are our citizen soldiers who voluntarily serve and protect both here and abroad, and I extend prayers and condolences from all New Yorkers to the family, loved ones and fellow soldiers of these honorable heroes," he said in a statement.

Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said at a news conference that witnesses who called 911 reported hearing the sounds of an engine sputtering and said the aircraft was flying very low.

There were no survivors of the crash, he said.

Baxter called the three guard members who perished “great Americans.”

“Keep them in your minds and your prayers,” he said.



Cyprus Says It Has Been Asked by Iran to Convey 'Some Messages' to Israel

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)
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Cyprus Says It Has Been Asked by Iran to Convey 'Some Messages' to Israel

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (EPA)

Iran has asked Cyprus to convey "some messages" to Israel, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday, saying he expected to speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the day.

Christodoulides also said he was not happy with what he said was a slow reaction by the European Union to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East.

Cyprus, the closest EU member state in the region, had asked for an extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, he said.