Cambodia’s defense ministry says a search is on for a military helicopter missing since Friday

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday announced that a military helicopter had gone missing while flying over the heavily forested Cardamom Mountain range in the country’s southwest, confirming earlier media reports that contact with the aircraft had been lost on Friday.

The brief statement said the helicopter had been on a training flight, and was flying in bad weather when air force headquarters lost touch with it. The statement did not say how many people were aboard. An intensive search for the missing aircraft was launched Saturday morning, the statement said. Local press reports said the search was focused on Pursat province.

In 2014, a Chinese-made Z-9 helicopter crashed in a pond south of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, killing two generals who headed the air force’s helicopter unit along with two pilots.

Police at that time said the helicopter had been on a training exercise, and the cause of the accident was not clear.