The rocket launcher which detached from a military helicopter during a training flight on Tuesday has been retrieved by police and handed over to the defence ministry, the ministry’s spokesperson Christos Pieris said on Wednesday.

“[The investigation], has begun and the defence ministry has requested an answer as soon as possible,” he said, adding that currently “all possibilities” into how the rocket launcher detached were being examined.

Recapping Tuesday’s incident, Pieris said that the ammunition launch base, which was placed on the side of the H145M National Guard helicopter had fallen into a field, emphasising that it had landed in an isolated area “where there was no one at that time and which is located at some distance from tourist villas”.

“It is a carrier, which carries various types of ammunition, rockets and is located on the side of the helicopter,” he said.

Unanimous media reports on Tuesday reported that the field where the rocket launcher landed around 1pm was located in a residential area of Peyia in the Paphos region.

The defence ministry soon after confirmed the incident, stressing that the rocket launcher did not include any ammunition.

H145M helicopters are used as light attack helicopters. In March, the first two helicopters of this kind were delivered to Cyprus by the manufacturer, Airbus.

“The weapons range includes guns, rockets and missiles. Combined with crewed-uncrewed teaming capabilities, enabling its integration into networked combat, its bandwidth makes it the most performant helicopter in its class,” the Airbus website says.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, Airbus has since been informed about the incident, as the training is conducted together collaboratively.

Investigations into the exact circumstances of the incident, clarifying whether it was due to human error or a technical defect of the chopper, are ongoing.