PARIS, Jan 18: Divers on Sunday recovered the bodies of several French soldiers from the wreckage of a military helicopter that crashed off the coast of Gabon, the general staff said.Two soldiers died and six were missing after the Cougar army transport helicopter went down in the sea shortly after take-off from the French carrier La Foudre on Saturday.

“Divers have begun a search operation of the wreckage,” said Captain Christophe Prazuck, spokesman for the army general staff.

“They found the bodies of several of the missing and these were brought up to the surface,” he told AFP.

Prazuck declined to say if the bodies of all six missing soldiers were recovered, saying the recovery operation was ongoing.—AFP