Weather and engine cited in Vietnam copter crash
HANOI - Bad weather or technical problems could be to
blame for the crash of a Russian-made helicopter in
Vietnam that killed 16 people, including seven US troops
searching for remains of servicemen missing from the
Vietnam War, a Vietnamese official said today.
The Mi-17 helicopter chartered from the Vietnamese air
force's Northern Flight Service Company, crashed into a
rocky hillside in Bo Trach district of the central province
of Quang Binh on Saturday afternoon (local time), killing
all on aboard.
An official of the district People's Committee, or local
government, said it was very misty at the time of the
crash and local people had heard the helicopter engine
labouring.
"They first heard the sound of the helicopter engine, then
it quietened down a bit," he said. "Then they heard a loud
roar from the engine followed by a crashing sound and
then an explosion."
"We think this could have been caused by a technical
problem," he said. "The weather was bad too."
An official of the Northern Flight Service Company
confirmed the helicopter was chartered from the firm and
was piloted by a Vietnamese air force officer.
He said the crash was under investigation and he was
not allowed to give any more details.
The Defence Department confirmed seven US military
personnel and nine Vietnamese were killed in the crash.
A US embassy spokesman said he had heard no details
as to the cause of the crash.
The people's committee official said the site was strewn
with wreckage and the bodies were badly burned.
"It looks like the fuel tank exploded," he said.
The helicopter came down in Thanh Trach commune,
about 450 km (280 miles) south of Hanoi, the national
capital. The crash site was about four km (two and a half
miles) from Vietnam's north-south road artery, Highway
One.
The official said the helicopter had initially been
scheduled to take off from the northern town of Vinh in
the morning but had been delayed by poor visibility.
It eventually left Vinh en route to the central town of Hue.
The flying time from Vinh to Bo Trach would be about 25
minutes.
The US Pacific Command said the helicopter had been
en route to recover suspected remains of Americans lost
during the war that ended in 1975 with a communist
victory.
President Bush said he was deeply saddened by the
crash and called it a terrible loss for the United States.
"The families of the service personnel lost in today's
tragic accident know better than most the contribution
their loved ones made in bringing closure to scores of
families across America," Bush said in a statement.
"Today's loss is a terrible one for our nation. Although not
lost in a hostile act, like those for whom they search,
they too have lived lives of great consequence, answering
a calling of service to their fellow citizens."
A US embassy statement issued in Hanoi expressed
condolences "to all the families of those lost in this tragic
accident."
Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Commander Terry
Sutherland called it "an unfortunate accident."
The crash was the first in long US military programme to
account for US MIAs - missing in action - from the
Vietnam War.
But it was the latest in a series of recent mishaps
involving the US military personnel globally, including air
crashes in Britain and Germany last month and the
collision of a US spy plane with a Chinese fighter over
the South China Sea on April 1.
The United States still lists nearly 1,500 servicemen MIA
in Vietnam and Washington has made accounting for
them its highest priority in relations with its former
enemy Hanoi.
It conducts regular searches, which often involve
helicopter flights carrying both US military and civilian
personnel and Vietnamese military and civilians.
Most US personnel lost in the northern part of Vietnam
during the war were air crew, shot down on bombing
missions.
Reuters - April 8, 2001.
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