Iran has dispatched a search vessel to look for the two pilots who went missing last week when their helicopter crashed in the Arabian Gulf, press reports said Sunday.
The vessel, launched Saturday by order of Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh, is equipped with advanced monitoring equipment to look for the men, the Entekhab paper said.
The daily said numerous motorboats have also been dispatched to the site where the helicopter went down late Tuesday near a drilling platform in the Gulf's giant South Pars gas field.
Three crewmembers were rescued by nearby boats after the crash -- two of them unharmed, one with slight leg injuries -- but the Iranian pilot and co-pilot are still missing.
The Pentagon on Thursday denied Iranian reports that a US ship had retrieved the two men, saying that an intensive 16-hour search had turned up nothing.
Entekhab said Sunday that "no traces" of the helicopter or its pilots had been found. No cause has been determined for the crash - TEHRAN (AFP)
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