The Secretary of State of the Gendarmerie of Madagascar, Division General Serge Zhele, who ejected at the time of the accident from an Air Force helicopter, sailed from the crash site to the shore for 12 hours. On December 22, NDTV reports.
Zhele and another soldier ejected into the sea, and they managed to swim to the city of Mahambo.
In a video posted on social media, the 57-year-old general lies on a sun lounger, still in uniform, exhausted.
“My time to die has not yet come,” he said, adding that he was cold but not wounded.
A Madagascar Air Force helicopter carrying Zhele and three other people crashed on the afternoon of December 20. The Secretary of State in charge of the National Gendarmerie was returning from a meeting with the Prime Minister of Madagascar and the Minister of Defense.
The Ministry of Defense of Madagascar said that all four people on board the helicopter were missing, but subsequently Zhele and another passenger were found. In the department toldthat the search for the two remaining soldiers continues, another boat was launched into the water.
Earlier, on December 8, the Chief of the Defense Staff of the Armed Forces of India, General Bipin Rawat, and his wife were killed in a helicopter crash in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A military helicopter Mi-17V-5 crashed due to unfavorable weather conditions. Heavy fog was observed in the area where the helicopter crashed.