Afghan helicopter crash kills 16
A civilian helicopter has crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 16 people, a military official has told the BBC. The helicopter crashed at the Kandahar airfield, Nato's largest base in southern Afghanistan, apparently as it was trying to take off. Reports from Moscow say the helicopter was a Russian-built Mi-8.
This isn't looking good for the Brits. I think they contract Mi-8s to move their personnel around.
Why can't the Brits build Hueys under license? | Another article posted today mentions that the Brits bought US-made Chinooks that won't fly because they forgot to license the avionics software from us. Obama could probably resolve that problem, if he wanted to. But don't hold your breath....
The crash is the second in a week. Six passengers died when a helicopter came down in Helmand province on Tuesday.
Russia's Interfax agency quoted a spokesman for Russia's Federal Air Transportation Agency (Fata) as saying the aircraft was a Russian-built Mi-8 transport helicopter. Fata said it was owned by the Russian air company Vertikal-T.
The nationalities of the dead are not yet known.
A statement from the International Security Assistance Force said: "A civilian contracted helicopter crashed during take-off from Kandahar airfield. "Emergency personnel are on the scene. There was no indication of the cause of the accident but insurgent action has been ruled out."
Posted by: ed 2009-07-19 |