Libya helicopter crash kills at least 14

A helicopter with 23 people on board crashed Tuesday near the Libyan capital but the cause was unclear, a security official said.

“We think that all the passengers are dead”, said Colonel Mustafa Sharkasi of the Tripoli-based government.

Naval forces are still combing through the wreckage, according Colonel Ayoub Gassim, a Tripoli-allied navy spokesman.

“We don’t know the number of victims or if there are survivors”, the Tripoli-based official told AFP.

And the Tripoli defence ministry declared a “maximum state of alert for the armed forces and thuwars (former rebel fighters) with a view to eventual retaliation”. It was not immediately clear who shot down the aircraft. However, the helicopter ran into trouble on return back to Tripoli and was carrying a number of local residents, Reuters reports.

Libya has fallen into chaos since the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The two governments are vying for power, and armed groups are battling for control of its vast energy resources.

Fajr Libya has been one of the groups warring with Libya’s internationally recognised government, which has taken refuge in Beida in the east of the country. However, neither Tripoli nor Beida have agreed to overtures by United Nations special envoy Bernardino Leon for a government of national accord.