NETANYA, November 24, 2009 (WAFA)- Three British tourists and  Israeli  pilot were killed on Tuesday when their civilian helicopter crashed into the waters off the coast of Netanya, daily  Haaretz said.

 “It was not immediately clear what caused the aircraft to tumble 300 meters into the sea near Sironit Beach,” Haaretz noted.

It stated, “The casualties' bodies were recovered by divers from the Zaka emergency services and the Magen David Adom.”

 Meanwhile, The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in late 2008 downgraded Israel's aviation safety standing to Category 2 - meaning from first-world to third-world standards.

Not long after that, the Israel Airports Authority decided to allocate an unprecedented funding of approximately NIS 9.5 million for a training program for flight controllers, based on the training programs of the FAA