On October 23, Minsk /BelTA correspondent/. A mourning ceremony for the border guards pilots who died on October 20 in the crash of an Ecureuil AS 355 NP helicopter is being held in Postavy today, as reported to BelTA by the press secretary of the State Border Committee of Belarus, Alexander Tishchenko. The press secretary explained that the farewell to the pilots began at 9:00 AM and is taking place at the city's House of Culture. He added that the funeral ceremony for the journalists of the "Soyuz" TV and Radio Company (Union State television company), who also died in the crash, will begin today in Minsk at the Kolodishchanskoye Cemetery at 2:00 PM. Furthermore, on October 22, requiem rallies were held in the border committee's military units and at border crossing points in memory of the deceased. As previously reported, on October 20, at approximately 5:45 AM, near the village of Vileyty, Postavy district, about a kilometre from the Belarusian-Lithuanian border, a Belarusian State Border Committee helicopter, an Ecureuil AS 355 NP manufactured by Eurocopter, crashed. On board were two crew members and a film crew from the "Soyuz" TV and Radio Company. The group was preparing a special report from the border. A total of five people died in the crash: pilots Igor Skvortsov and Andrey Pekarsky, correspondent Yulia Shaternik, operator Vitaly Prachkovsky, and driver Sergey Shamalov. A special commission is currently investigating the causes of the tragedy. The State Border Committee's website continues to receive condolences from colleagues from other countries, journalists, diplomats, various government bodies, and citizens in general. A special section has been opened on the website for this purpose. -0-

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