The cortege with the bodies of the members of the SMURD team who died in a helicopter crash on June 2 passed the Leuseni customs post towards Iasi. There, a platoon of the Presidential Guard of the Ministry of Defense gave last military honors to the four. Prime Minister Pavel Filip, in a working meeting of Government officials, said the Moldovan authorities will offer financial assistance totaling 1 million lei to the families of the four victims, IPN reports.

In the same meeting, Deputy Minister of the Interior Oleg Babin said the place of the accident was secured and over 100 police officers are permanently monitoring the area. A number of Romanian forensic experts arrived at the scene this morning. They will examine the place together with Moldovan specialists.

Today, senior state officials laid flowers in front of the Embassy of Romania in Chisinau. A moment’s silence was observed at 12 noon to remember the SMURD employees who died in the line of duty. The firefighters turned on the sirens at the same hour.

The helicopter of Romania’s SMURD (Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication) with four crew members on board crashed near Haragas village of Cantemir district in the afternoon of June 2. The pilot, copilot, doctor and the nurse died while heading for Cahul to take a patient.

June 3 was declared in Moldova a national day of mourning for the dead members of the SMURD team.