May 6, 2006 1:04 am US/Pacific
Military Helicopter Crashes In Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ―
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CH-47 Chinook helicopter (file)
A military transport helicopter with 10 U.S.-led coalition personnel aboard crashed while conducting combat operations in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. military spokeswoman said Saturday. No information on the fate of those on board was immediately released.
The crash of the CH-47 Chinook late Friday was not the result of enemy fire, said Lt. Tamara D. Lawrence, a coalition spokeswoman.
The military could not immediately say whether there were any survivors, and did not give the nationalities or other information about the 10 passengers and crew on board. Rescue and recovery operations are under way, Lawrence said.
The helicopter was conducting "operations on a mountaintop landing zone" when it crashed near Asadabad in Kunar province, about 150 miles east of Kabul, the capital, the military said.
Asadabad is surrounded by rugged mountains, and a large U.S. military base there houses hundreds of Marines and special forces commandos.
A military statement said that other aircraft and crews were at the landing zone during the crash and confirmed that enemy fire did not cause it.
Lawrence said the crash was being investigated and that little information was available.
"They're still doing rescue and recovery operations, so there's just a lot of unknown factors at this time," Lawrence said.
Kunar, on the border with Pakistan, is one of several provinces across the south and east of the country plagued by insurgents.
In September, a Chinook helicopter crashed in a mountainous area in southeastern province of Zabul, killing all five American crew members.
In August, 17 Spanish troops died in a helicopter crash in the western city of Herat. That crash was blamed on fierce winds.
In April of last year, 15 U.S. service members and three American civilians were killed when their Chinook went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main U.S. base at Bagram.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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