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| Africa Horn |
| U.N. helicopter shot down in South Sudan, three killed, Russian owner says |
| 2014-08-27 |
| [REUTERS] A U.N. peacekeeping helicopter in South Sudan was shot down on Tuesday and three of its crew were killed, Russian airline UTair, which owns the aircraft, said, citing initial information. The airline said the helicopter, carrying four crew members, had been shot down as it flew over an area that has been a flashpoint during a civil conflict that is now more than eight months old. "According to preliminary information, the helicopter was shot down with surface-to-air fire," UTair said in a statement. "One crew member - the second pilot - is alive and has been transported to a hospital ... with minor injuries. Other crew members - commander, flight engineer and flight attendant - were killed." The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... confirmed three crew members had been killed and one was being treated for injuries, but it had no immediate comment on the Russian report that the helicopter, which was on a routine cargo flight, had been shot down. The U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said an investigative team would arrive at the crash site on Wednesday. A front man for the Russian embassy in Sudan, Artur Safukov, told Russia's state broadcaster Rossiya 24 that all four on board were Russian citizens. The Mi-8 helicopter crashed about 10 km (6 miles) south of Bentiu, the capital of oil-producing Unity State, which lies in the north of the Africa's newest nation, UNMISS said. Toby Lanzer, the officer-in-charge of UNMISS, and UTair both said the helicopter, which was contracted to the U.N. mission, had been flying from Wau in the southwest to Bentiu in the north. UTair, which said it has been working with the United Nations since 1991, said it was temporary halting flying over the area. Additional information from the National Post: A rebel commander who warned the UN not to fly over his territory shot down a UN helicopter Tuesday in rural South Sudan, charged a spokesman for a state governor. South Sudanese rebel commander Peter Gadet had warned the UN last week not to fly over his territory, said the spokesman for the governor of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state, Akol Ayom Wek. Gadet's forces shot down the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, said Wek. |
| Posted by:Fred |