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Two Killed In US Helicopter Crash In Afghanistan
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| Two US marines killed in helicopter crash in Afghanistan |
KABUL, Jan. 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Two U.S. Marines were killed and five injured, two critically, when their helicopter crashed in a remote mountainous region of northern Afghanistan, U.S. officials and reports said.
The CH-53-E helicopter crashed at about 7.30am (0300 GMT), thirty minutes after leaving Bagram air base to re-supply U.S. forces in the north of the country, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Marine officials at a U.S. base in Kandahar confirmed a statement that there were seven on board but their identities would not be released until next-of-kin were notified.
Two were killed, while two others were in a critical condition, the BBC said on its website, quoting a Marine spokesman.
A U.S. Marine spokesman in Kabul, Corporal Matthew Roberson, told AFP the cause of the crash was not immediately known.
"We don't know if it was caused by enemy fire or by mechanical failure," he said.
The aircraft had just departed Bagram air base north of Kabul, heading for an undisclosed location, when one of them went down over snow-covered mountainous terrain, reported CNN on its website.
Of the injured, two were in critical condition, two were in serious, and one had minimal injuries, said Army Captain Tom Bryant. After being taken first to Bagram, the Marines were taken by C-130 transport plane to an undisclosed U.S. base in the region, Bryant said, reported BBC.
"The site was quickly secured, we quickly got medical personnel and others on the ground and got them evacuated back here," Bryant said. "We have a robust medical treatment capability here. They were immediately attended to and quickly evacuated out of here."
Roberson said medical staff from Bagram, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Kabul, were at the scene of the crash.
The helicopter was the second U.S. aircraft to crash in the region in less than a fortnight.
On January 9, 2002, a U.S. Marine KC-130 air refueling plane crashed into a mountain in southwestern Pakistan, killing all seven on board. It was the worst air disaster during the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, which started October 7, 2001.
At least four other helicopters and another fixed wing aircraft have crashed during the campaign.
Two people were killed when a helicopter crashed in a sandstorm in Pakistan October 9, 2001.
The other helicopter crashes caused injuries but no deaths.
The CH-53-E is a twin-engined, heavy-duty transport helicopter, according to "Jane's All the World's Aircraft". It is capable of carrying up to 55 fully armed troops.
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