U.S. helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, 16 killed

4/6/2005 4:55:00 PM GMT

A U.S. military helicopter traveling in “severe weather” conditions crashed in Afghanistan, killing every one on board, the U.S. army said on Wednesday.

"There were a number of people on board. We believe that there are no survivors," U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore said, adding that she can’t provide an accurate casualty figure.

However a senior Afghan security official said that thirteen people were killed when the U.S. military CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in the southeastern Ghazni province.

"The chopper was one of two Chinooks returning to Bagram Air Field from a routine mission in southern Afghanistan. The second helicopter arrived safely at Bagram Airfield," the U.S. army said in a statement.

"A recovery operation is at the site providing security and accounting for the dead."

Moore said that the accident took place around 100 kilometers south of the capital Kabul.

"One of the Chinooks crashed due to bad weather in Ghazni and the second one safely landed safely at Bagram," she said. Bagram is the main U.S. airbase in Afghanistan.

Abdul Rahman Sarjang, the chief of police in Ghazni, said that the accident took place near a factory some five kilometers outside the city. The copter caught fire, he said.

"We collected nine bodies, though the Americans told us there were 13 people in total on board," Sarjang said. "They were all wearing American uniforms and they were all dead."

The military said that it will investigate the accident, but added that "Initial reports indicate that the cause of the crash was severe weather."

Three U.S. army personnel and three American civilians died last November when their transport plane crashed in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan province.

In October, the pilot of a U.S. army Black Hawk helicopter died and two others were wounded when their helicopter crashed near the western city of Herat.