One person died and several were injured on Thursday when a military helicopter crashed in the Czech Republic with five soldiers on board, the army and emergency services said.

"A Venom helicopter has crashed at the 22nd helicopter base in Namest nad Oslavou. Five soldiers were on board. Emergency services are currently deployed at the scene," the army wrote on X.

Petr Janacek, a spokesman for the Vysocina regional rescue services, told AFP that one of the passengers was found dead and three were taken to hospitals in the region, two of them with "moderately serious injuries".

A rescue operation was still under way, he said.

No information was immediately available regarding the fifth soldier.

The Namest and Oslavou airbase is located around 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Prague.

Police were informed of the accident at 12:11 pm (1011 GMT), regional police spokeswoman Dana Cirtkova told the CTK news agency.

The Czech army bought eight UH-1Y Venom multi-purpose helicopters and four combat AH-1Z Viper helicopters from the United States in 2019, with the final two aircraft delivered in June 2024.

American instructors provided training for Czech personnel on the new aircraft until last year.

Defence Minister Jaromir Zuna said the incident was "an immense tragedy that affects us all deeply", adding that an inquiry was under way to determine the cause of the crash.