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Chopper Crash Kills at Least 9 in Afghanistan
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. military helicopter crashed in bad weather in southeast Afghanistan (search) on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, including four American crew members, the military said.
An Afghan police official said the death toll could be higher, and that all aboard appeared to be American, but the U.S. military would not confirm that or give the nationalities of the passengers.
Bad weather appeared to have caused the crash of the Chinook helicopter (search) near Ghazni city, 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore told The Associated Press.
Moore said the helicopter was one of two Chinooks flying to the main American base at Bagram (search), north of Kabul, when controllers lost radio contact.
"I have confirmed nine fatalities," Moore said. "Indications are it was bad weather and that there were no survivors."
Abdul Rahman Sarjang, the chief of police in Ghazni, said the helicopter came down at about 2:30 p.m. near a brick factory 3 miles outside the city and burst into flames. U.S. troops rushed to cordon the area to look for any survivors, he said.
"We collected nine bodies, though the Americans told us there were 13 people in total on board," Sarjang told AP by mobile telephone from the crash site. "They were all wearing American uniforms and they were all dead."
Sarjang said the weather was cloudy with strong winds, but had no explanation for why the aircraft came down in a flat, desert area.
He said there was no sign that enemy fire could have brought it down.
Chopper Crash Kills at Least 9 in Afghanistan
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. military helicopter crashed in bad weather in southeast Afghanistan (search) on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, including four American crew members, the military said.
An Afghan police official said the death toll could be higher, and that all aboard appeared to be American, but the U.S. military would not confirm that or give the nationalities of the passengers.
Bad weather appeared to have caused the crash of the Chinook helicopter (search) near Ghazni city, 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore told The Associated Press.
Moore said the helicopter was one of two Chinooks flying to the main American base at Bagram (search), north of Kabul, when controllers lost radio contact.
"I have confirmed nine fatalities," Moore said. "Indications are it was bad weather and that there were no survivors."
Abdul Rahman Sarjang, the chief of police in Ghazni, said the helicopter came down at about 2:30 p.m. near a brick factory 3 miles outside the city and burst into flames. U.S. troops rushed to cordon the area to look for any survivors, he said.
"We collected nine bodies, though the Americans told us there were 13 people in total on board," Sarjang told AP by mobile telephone from the crash site. "They were all wearing American uniforms and they were all dead."
Sarjang said the weather was cloudy with strong winds, but had no explanation for why the aircraft came down in a flat, desert area.
He said there was no sign that enemy fire could have brought it down.
