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21 U.S. Soldiers Injured In Helicopter Crash In Afghan Terrain
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| Afghanistan is a tough terrain for U.S. choppers |
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Jan. 29 (IslamOnline & News agencies) - Twenty-one U.S. soldiers deployed to the war in Afghanistan were injured in two accidents, and one of them was evacuated to Europe for treatment, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
On Monday January 28, 16 were injured in a helicopter crash and five were hit by a forklift.
One of the five injured by the forklift Monday evening was evacuated to Germany in critical but stable condition, and the other four had minor injuries treated at the site.
The 16 Army soldiers injured when their helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan were being treated at a military base north of Kabul, defense officials said Tuesday January 29. Their names have not been released.
Four soldiers suffered serious injuries such as hip and leg fractures, while 10 received minor injuries such as other broken bones, abrasions and cuts, BBC’s online news service qouted U.S. spokesman at Central Command as saying in Florida.
The military did not give details of the soldiers' mission, merely saying that the helicopter had made a "hard landing".
The cause of the incident is still under investigation, CNN International quoted U.S. Army spokesman, Maj. A. C. Roper as saying.
However, a preliminary report showed no hostile actions were involved in bringing the aircraft down.
The Afghan Islamic Press, a private news agency, quoted unnamed witnesses as saying rockets and light artillery were fired just after the crash, BBC said.
"We saw a fire, the sound of rockets and some light artillery was heard, and this continued for a while," one eyewitness was quoted as saying.
According to the agency, the helicopter crashed near Khost airport.
An Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying 24 soldiers was ferrying members of the 101st Airborne Division to an area near Khost when it made a hard landing, U.S. defense officials said.
A statement from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in Afghanistan, said the helicopter was extensively damaged and the wreck was under investigation, news agencies reported Tuesday.
Army Col. Frank Wiercinski, a spokesman for the 101st in Kandahar, Afghanistan, said that the pilot apparently failed to see holes in the ground at the landing site due to darkness and dust. He said the soldiers were members of the 187th Regiment of the 101st Airborne.
The accident was the latest in a series of U.S. military aircraft accidents in and around Afghanistan. The most deadly was the crash of a Marine Corps KC-130 refueling aircraft in Pakistan on Jan. 9 in which seven Marines were killed. On Jan. 20, a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed south of Baghram, killing two of the seven Marines aboard.
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