Central Sulawesi DVI Team Identifies Chopper Crash Victims

Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Team of Central Sulawesi Police is currently identifying the 13 bodies of the National Armed Force (TNI) members who are the victims of the helicopter crash at Kasiguncu Village, Poso Pesisir Sub-district, Poso District, Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Once the identification finished, the bodies will be laid down at 132 Tadulako Military Regional Command before being sent to their respective hometowns.

Meanwhile, the national flag has been flown at half-mast at 132 Tadulako Military Regional Command.

An Indonesian Army helicopter crashed in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, at 6:20 p.m. local time on Sunday. Thirteen passengers and crew members reportedly lost their lives in the incident, which occurred in the village of Pattiro Bajo, Poso Pesisir Selatan district.

Sr. Comr. Ronny Suseno confirmed the incident. Ronny said the Bell 412 EP helicopter had flown from Watutau village in Lore Piore district, Poso regency, to Kasiguncu Airport in Poso, where a joint police-military team was pursuing members of the East Indonesia Mujahiddin (MIT) terrorist group led by Indonesia’s most wanted fugitive Santoso aka Abu Wardah.“The location of the helicopter crash is only around 1 to 1.5 kilometers from Kasiguncu Airport, Poso,” said Ronny.

He added that weather conditions in Poso had been bad and suspected the helicopter had been struck by lightning.

Indonesian Military and National Police personnel were deployed to the crash site and 13 ambulances readied to bring the bodies of the victims to the Bhayangkara Police hospital in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

The 13 bodies arrived at Bhayangkara Hospital Palu on Monday, March 21, around 4.45 am Central Indonesia Time.

The TNI chopper piloted by Capt. CPN Agung were flying above Napu towards Poso after taking-off from Watutu Village. Around 5.45 pm Central Indonesia Time, the chopper crashed only a couple of minutes from landing at Kasiguncu Airport.

The TNI Headquarters said that the helicopter crashed due to severe weather, however, TNI had not made further investigation.

The chopper carried seven passengers and six crew members.

Monday 21 March 2015

http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/03/21/055755403/Central-Sulawesi-DVI-Team-Identifies-Chopper-Crash-Victims

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Days after missing Pawan Hans chopper was located, three bodies found in Arunachal Pradesh

Search and rescue teams looking for a helicopter that went missing in Arunachal Pradesh with three people on board have spotted bodies and wreckage, an official said on Wednesday.

The bodies were spotted along with the wreckage of the Pawan Hans chopper that went missing on August 4 in a deep gorge in a remote forested area in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Ramesh Negi confirmed this on Wednesday but said it will take time to recover the bodies due to the hilly terrain.

"The search team had spotted the bodies amid the wreckage today. The operation is on to recover the bodies now. We are trying to bring it to Khonsa first. However, it is likely to take some time due to the difficult mountainous terrain," he said.

Paratroopers of the Indian Army and some mountaineers will be pressed into service on Thursday to find out the Pawan Hans chopper and its passengers that went missing in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh last week.

Director General of Police S Nitithyanandam told PTI that highly-trained commandos of the HAWS in Jammu and Kashmir, who were airdropped in the tough hilly region, reached the spot where the debris of the chopper had been spotted on Monday last.

It may be mentioned here that the aerial search operations have located the main portion of the wreckage of the Pawan Hans chopper lying in a gorge between two hills on Tuesday but the steep downward climb has made it difficult for the rescue teams to reach to it.

The massive search operations involved Tirap and Changlang district administrations, the army, Assam Rifles and police personnel, as also IAF’s Ml-17, Cheetah helicopters, Sukhoi MKI30 and EW Boeing aircrafts. Joshi's wife Neha and brother Maj Rajesh Joshi had been camping at Khonsa since August 6. Often hindered by inclement weather, the search operation had succeeded in locating the tail portion of the chopper from a place, about 4-5 km away from Sangliam village on a hill covered with dense forest on Monday last, civil aviation secretary B M Mishra had said.

The Dauphin twin-engine helicopter went missing with the Tirap DC and the two pilots after taking off from Khonsa in Tirap district on August 4 last. The chopper was on way to Longding to pick up its Deputy Commissioner and that of Changlang and proceed to New Delhi to attend an important meeting on August 6.

The wreckage has been located between Pongkong and Longliang villages in Tirap district. The bodies were burnt badly as the chopper seems to have exploded following the crash.

After spotting the main portion of the wreckage of the chopper, the government had used the services of army`s paratroopers and mountaineers to reach to the wreckage on Wednesday.

The chopper went missing it took off from Khonsa in Tirap district on August 4.

Tirap Deputy Commissioner Kamlesh Kumar Joshi and two pilots of the chopper were on its way to Longding on a routine sortie and it was supposed to return to Mohanbari airport in Dibrugarh.

Hectic search operations have been on to locate the missing helicopter and its three boarders by the IAF choppers, Army, the Assam Rifles, Arunachal Pradesh police personnel and local villagers since the last eight days.

Thursday 13 August 2015

http://www.firstpost.com/india/days-after-missing-pawan-hans-chopper-was-located-three-bodies-found-in-arunachal-pradesh-2389574.html

http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/search-teams-spot-bodies-wreckage-of-missing-chopper_1645873.html

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Russia locates helicopter that crashed 10 months ago in Siberia

Russian investigators said on Saturday that they had located the wreckage of a helicopter that had crashed in a remote mountainous region of Siberia last October with 14 people on board.

Rescuers "confirmed information that the Mi-8 helicopter of TuvaAvia airline that went missing on October 10 was found in an isolated mountainous area," investigators said in a statement.

"According to provisional information, there were 11 passengers and 3 crew members on board.

"The helicopter was transporting workers who were returning from a hydroelectric project in the Siberian Buddhist region of Tuva, which borders Mongolia.It crashed into mountainous terrain amid low cloud and falling snow and caught fire when it hit the ground, the spokesman for the regional emergencies ministry, Dmitry Kryzh, told TASS news agency.

"There is a very steep slope -- with a gradient of around 45 degrees," he said of the crash scene.He said the helicopter most likely went undetected after the crash because it was quickly covered with snow.

The wreckage was initially spotted yesterday from the air by military helicopter pilots.Rescuers were still searching for the helicopter's black boxes which could have been swept downhill by rock falls, Kryzh said.

So far the remains of 10 people have been found. "Unfortunately the crew and the passengers had no chance," the leader of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, said in a statement.

It is not unknown for crashed aircraft to lie undetected for months in Russia's sparsely populated countryside. In 2013, a small plane was found in a marsh 11 months after it crashed in the Urals region of central Russia, killing all 13 on board.

Monday 10 august 2015

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/russia-locates-helicopter-that-crashed-10-months-ago-in-siberia/article1-1377895.aspx

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Bodies of helicopter crash victims sent to Rawalpindi

Rescue officials recovered the bodies of all the victims of Thursday’s military chopper crash and shifted them to CHM Abbottabad for DNA tests, police said on Friday.

At least 12 people, including two crew members and a medical team, were killed when a MI-17 helicopter crashed on the hilly range of Koh-e-Bhaingra near Mohar village in Lassan Nawab area on Thursday afternoon.

“It hovered over Lassan for a few seconds before exploding on the hill”, a resident of the Mohar village Dilawar said.

He believes that the pilot failed to judge the foggy weather on the hilltop, home to a thick forest.

Khwas, another resident of the same village, explained that although the crashing site was a three-hour walk away, the villagers reached for the rescue late by which time the helicopter had burnt.

The villagers, he said, were later joined by military troops and police personnel and after a 12-hour operation they recovered the bodies. Saturday 8 August 2015

http://tribune.com.pk/story/934301/final-journey-bodies-of-chopper-crash-victims-sent-to-rawalpindi/

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Afghan army helicopter crashes, killing all 17 aboard

An Afghan military helicopter crashed, killing all 17 people on board on Thursday, officials said, in a blow for a fledgling air force whose resources have been stretched since the withdrawal of most international troops last year.

The Taliban, mounting a growing insurgency, said it shot down the helicopter in the southern province of Zabul, but a government official blamed a technical failure and said there had been no gunfire.

Twelve soldiers and five crew died, said Gul Islam Seyal, a government spokesman in Zabul, on the same day as two suicide attacks blamed on the militant group. Thousands have been killed and wounded since the start of the year.

"There were two helicopters ... One of them had a technical problem and contacted the other one and informed the pilot of an emergency landing. As soon as it landed, it caught fire," Seyal said.

Provincial police chief Mirwais Noorzai said the cause of the helicopter crash was not yet known and was under investigation. The Defense Ministry said the crash appeared to have been caused by a technical problem, without elaborating.

Afzal Aman, the Defense Ministry's chief of operations, described it as "the worst calamity to hit the air force." He confirmed the casualty figure, and said the dead included a unit commander and 11 soldiers, as well as the crew.

Afghanistan's military has about 150 aircraft and 390 pilots, just a fraction of the air power that NATO used to fly support, evacuation and supply sorties before last year's drawdown.

The bulk of the Afghan fleet is made up of aging Mi-17 transport aircraft, but it was not immediately clear what type of helicopter was involved in the crash.

Friday 7 August 2015

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/06/us-afghanistan-helicopter-idUSKCN0QB0QF20150806

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Pakistan military helicopter crashes in northwest; 11 killed

A Pakistani military helicopter crashed in a mountainous region in the country's restive northwest on Thursday, killing at least 11 people on board, police said.

The helicopter, which serves as a medical assistance aircraft, was on the way to the northern town of Gilgit when it went down near the district of Mansehra in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said local police official Fida Khan.

"Rescuers have so far retrieved 11 bodies from the wreckage," he said, adding that the cause of the crash was unclear and that an investigation was underway.

However, a senior army officer told The Associated Press that the helicopter was carrying 12 people- including military doctors, paramedics and crew members - and was flying to Gilgit to evacuate a critically ill soldier when it went down, apparently because of bad weather.

The officer said the helicopter had taken off from Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital, Islamabad. It crashed near Mansehra, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of the city of Peshawar. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters, had no other details and said the army had dispatched troops to the site of the crash.

The crash came months after another army helicopter crashed in the northern town of Naltar, killing four foreigners - ambassadors to Islamabad from the Philippines and Norway, as well as the wives of the ambassadors from Malaysia and Indonesia. Three crew members from the army were also killed at the time.

It took rescue workers at least two hours to reach the crash site due to the difficult mountainous terrain, Mushtaq Ghani, information minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told reporters.

Earlier in the day, another helicopter of the Pakistan Air Force had crashed in the tourist Chitral Valley near the Afghanistan border, which left several people injured. The PAF helicopter was also engaged in rescue operations in flood-hit areas.

On May 8, the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines were among seven people killed in a helicopter crash in the northern Gilgit district's Niltar valley, a popular skiing destination near the border with China.

Pakistan's army has been fighting local and foreign militants in the country's northwestern tribal regions bordering Afghanistan for nearly a decade. The military launched a major offensive in the North Waziristan tribal region last year and claims it has cleared 90 percent of the region of militants.

North Waziristan was considered to be the headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban until June 2014, when the army launched the long-awaited operation there.

Friday 7 August 2015

http://www.newswest9.com/story/29726028/pakistan-military-helicopter-crashes-in-northwest-11-killed

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All 23 people aboard crashed Lao helicopter confirmed dead

All 23 people on a Lao military helicopter that crashed earlier this week while traveling to northern Laos have been confirmed dead, military officials and state media said Thursday, though the cause of the accident remains unknown.

Air traffic control in the capital Vientiane lost contact with the MI-17 helicopter—registration number RDPL-34062—at 1:10 p.m. local time on July 27, shortly after it departed Wattay International Airport, heading for Houaphan and Xieng Khuang provinces.

The aircraft was located Wednesday crashed in a remote area of Xaysomboun province’s Longchaeng district, a Lao military official told RFA’s Lao Service, adding that all 19 passengers and four crew members were killed in the accident.

“We have accessed the crash site—all the people on board were killed because the helicopter hit a mountain in eastern Longchaeng district,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The recovery team can now retrieve all the bodies from the crash site.”

An official with Division 703 of the Lao Air Force told RFA that the remains of the dead would be flown to Vientiane for identification and then turned over to relatives for funeral proceedings.

Lao state media cited a Ministry of Defense statement Thursday confirming that all people aboard the helicopter died in the crash.

The ministry said that an investigation is underway into the cause of the crash, but preliminary findings suggest recent heavy rains and extreme weather in the region is likely to blame.

The weather has also hampered recovery efforts by a task force committee assigned to the site, which is reportedly located deep in in the jungle on a slope of Phu Bia Mountain in Longchaeng.

On Wednesday, a senior official from the Ministry of Defense told RFA that at least one of the 19 passengers was a “high-ranking military patient” who had received treatment in Hospital 103 in Vientiane and was returning to Houaphan province.

Hospital 103 is a military hospital operated by the Ministry of Defense which was built to treat soldiers.

A doctor from Hospital 103 told RFA on Wednesday that three other passengers were health professionals from the facility accompanying the patient in the helicopter.

The identities of the other passengers and crew members were not immediately known.

Recent air disasters

Aircraft in impoverished Laos are mostly outdated, and the country has suffered at least two major air disasters within the last two years.

On May 17 last year, a Ukrainian-made Antonov AN-74TK-300 aircraft owned by the Lao military crashed while approaching an airport in Xiengkhuang, killing 17 passengers, including Lao Deputy Prime Minister Douangchay Phichit, Minister of Public Security Thongbanh Sengaphone, and two other high-ranking officials.

The group was en route to attend the 55th anniversary of “strategic gains” made by the Lao military during the Indochina War, according to state media.

The crash, which was attributed to a technical error by the pilot, is the second deadliest air disaster in Lao history, after the crash of Lao Airlines Flight 301 seven months earlier.

On Oct. 16, 2013, Flight 301—an ATR-72 turboprop—plunged into the Mekong River during bad weather as it approached Pakse Airport in southern Laos’s Champasak province, killing all 49 passengers.

Six Australians, seven French, five Thai, three South Koreans, two Vietnamese, as well as passengers from China, Myanmar, Taiwan and the U.S. were killed in the crash, which was also attributed to pilot error.

Friday 31 July 2015

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/dead-07302015181429.html

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Nepal says civilians were on crashed US copter, toll now 13

A U.S. military helicopter that crashed in Nepal last month on an earthquake relief mission was carrying five more passengers than first thought, raising the death toll to 13, Nepal's army said Friday.

Authorities initially said six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were killed.

According to Army Spokesperson Brigadier General Jadish Chandra Pokharel, the confirmation was made after matching the DNA samples of the deceased family with the samples of their family members. The Army had collected the DNA samples of the relatives of the missing locals last week. The search for the five people was started only after they could not be found at any hospital in Kathmandu even 13 days after they were airlifted from the district. “We are preparing to hand over the bodies to the family members,” Pokhrel said. The body of Lieutenant Tapendra Rawal was handed over to his family in Dailekh where his last rites were performed last week. The body of Warrant Officer Basant Bahadur Titara will also been handed over to his family soon, according to the Army. The US Embassy in Nepal said that Nepali and US armies have been coordinating on the identification of the remains of the five civilians who lost their lives in the crash. “We offer heartfelt condolences to all those who lost their lives in this tragic accident,” said Susan Parker-Jones, director of Public Affairs at the Embassy. The UH-1 "Huey" helicopter crashed May 12 in the northeastern mountains, and the wreckage was found after days of intense searching. The first three charred bodies were retrieved by Nepalese and U.S. military teams, and the rest were found a day later.

The U.S. relief mission was deployed after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit Nepal on April 25. A magnitude-7.3 quake struck on May 12 and hours later the helicopter crashed.

Four of the Marines were part of the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California. Two other Marines were combat cameramen based in Japan.

The cause of the crash has not been determined. U.S. military officials have said that an Indian helicopter in the air nearby heard radio chatter from the Huey about a possible fuel problem.

Earlier this week, a private helicopter chartered by Doctors Without Borders crashed after hitting power cables, killing all four people on board. Three victims were Nepalese and the other was a Dutch woman.

The government and aid agencies have used helicopters to carry relief materials to mountainous regions where earthquake damage or the lack of existing roads has made delivery of aid all but impossible.

The two earthquakes have killed more than 8,700 people, injured thousands and destroyed many buildings. Saturday 6 June 2015

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/06/05/nepal-says-civilians-were-on-crashed-us-copter-toll-now-13/21191888/

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Helicopter on quake relief mission crashes in Nepal

A small helicopter on an earthquake relief mission crashed in high mountains in northeast Nepal on Tuesday, killing at least four people, the army said.

The aircraft, operated by private company Mountain Air, crashed in the district of Sindhupalchowk, about 60 km (38 miles) northeast of Kathmandu.

Sindhupalchowk, which borders Tibet, was one of the regions worst hit by the April 25 and May 12 earthquakes that killed 8,700 people. A massive international relief and rescue operation was carried out for the victims of the disaster.

"We have recovered four bodies from the crash site," said Brigadier General Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, spokesman for the Nepali army.

Some media reports said the chopper hit electric power lines before it crashed, but Pokharel said the cause of the crash was unclear.

Six American and two Nepali soldiers were killed when a U.S. Marines UH-1Y Huey helicopter, also on a relief mission in the neighboring district of Dolakha, crashed in dense mountain forests on the day of the second big earthquake.

Authorities have found DNA evidence at the crash site indicating that five more people may have been on board the U.S. helicopter when it came down, a U.S. military spokesman has said.

Tuesday 2 June 2015

http://news.yahoo.com/helicopter-quake-relief-mission-crashes-nepal-124852317.html

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Five more bodies found at Nepal crash site of US helicopter

Authorities have found DNA evidence that five more people may have been on board a US military helicopter that crashed during a humanitarian relief mission after the Nepal earthquake.

Investigators are exploring the possibility that the five new suspected victims of the crash were villagers picked up by the helicopter during its relief mission, a Nepali army spokesman said.

The helicopter and its crew were part of the large international aid effort after a massive earthquake and major aftershock struck Nepal on April 25 and May 12, killing more than 8,600 people and making hundreds of thousands homeless.

Six US Marines and two Nepali soldiers are known to have died in the crash, the cause of which has yet to be determined.

"While no positive identification has yet been made, there is DNA evidence of five individuals in addition to the six US Marines and two Nepalese soldiers who have already been identified," said Lt. Col. Rob James, a public affairs officer for the US Marines, in a statement to Reuters.

The Nepal Army said the new remains were found on May 25, 10 days after the bodies of the soldiers were found among the wreckage of a US Marine Corps UH-1Y helicopter that went down in the mountains northeast of the capital Kathmandu.

Earlier this week, Nepalese media reported that five people from devastated villages in Dolakha district had gone missing after boarding an unidentified aid helicopter.

A team of US and Nepalese medical and forensic experts are performing DNA tests on the remains to identify all of the victims in tandem with the joint investigation by both militaries into the crash.

Brigadier General Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, spokesman for the Nepal Army, said DNA from the five would be sent to the United States for testing along with DNA samples from relatives of the missing villagers to see it there is a match.

The US military did not comment on whether it had any prior indication that there may have been additional passengers on board the aircraft. "We are all committed to ensuring all remains - whether U.S. or Nepalese - are positively identified," an official said.

Friday 29 May 2015

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/five-more-bodies-found-at-nepal-crash-site-of-us-helicopter-31263008.html

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Nepal recovers more human remains from U.S. chopper crash site

Nepal has found more human remains at the site where a U.S. military helicopter crashed during a mission to aid victims of the country's earthquake, the army said on Wednesday.

The recovery was made on May 25, 10 days after the bodies of six U.S. Marines and two Nepali soldiers were found among the wreckage of the aircraft in mountains northeast of the capital Kathmandu.

Nepali media said five people from earthquake-devastated villages in Dolakha district had gone missing after being taken aboard an aid helicopter. It was not known which aircraft they had boarded.

“We have started investigations into whether these human remains belonged to the eight people (two Nepalis and six U.S. Marine corps) killed in the crash or to other people,” the Nepali Army said in a statement.

“The army is trying to find out if the U.S. Marine Corps helicopter had any persons other than the military personnel from the two countries," it added.

“The facts will be known only after joint investigations and DNA tests the reports of which will be made public without delay."

The Marines' UH-1Y Huey helicopter disappeared while distributing aid in a remote area of Nepal. The quakes on April 25 and May 12 killed at least 8,676 people.

The cause of the crash is so far unknown.

Thursday 28 May 2015

http://news.yahoo.com/nepal-recovers-more-human-remains-u-chopper-crash-182232012.html

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Bodies recovered from helicopter crash in Nepal are identified

The bodies of six United States Marines and two Nepalese soldiers who were aboard a helicopter that crashed in Nepal while delivering earthquake relief supplies were identified on Sunday, officials have said.

The wreckage of the UH-1 Huey helicopter was first spotted on Friday by the Nepalese Army, but intense wind, rain and thunderstorms and the rugged, mountainous terrain hampered recovery efforts. The army said it had found three charred bodies at the site on Friday and the rest on Saturday.

The crash victims were named on Sunday, as the Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs said that the death toll since the April 25 earthquake had risen above 8,500.

The Nepalese Army identified its soldiers who were killed as Tapendra Rawal and Basanta Titara and said in a statement that all eight bodies had been flown to Kathmandu, the capital. The army will deliver the bodies of its soldiers to their families on Monday, it said.

The helicopter disappeared on Tuesday after the country was struck by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake, which came less than three weeks after the initial quake measuring 7.8. The aircraft had been delivering relief supplies to villages around Charikot, east of Kathmandu, near the epicenter of the second quake. American, Nepalese and Indian teams who had been engaged in relief work all participated in the search before the bodies were found.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is continuing.

Sunday 17 May 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/world/asia/bodies-recovered-from-helicopter-crash-in-nepal-are-identified.html?_r=0

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All 8 bodies of US Helicopter crash in Nepal recovered

Nepal's army says the bodies of all eight people on board a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that crashed Tuesday have been recovered.

Officials said Saturday teams from the U.S. military and Nepal's army are at the scene of the crash, investigating what may have caused the aircraft to go down in a rugged, mountainous area.

Neither the cause of the crash nor the identities of the eight people aboard the craft have been disclosed. Lieutenant-General John Wissler confirmed Friday that the helicopter was carrying six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers.

The general, a senior commander of Marines based in Japan, noted the enormous loss of life Nepal has suffered during the past three weeks, from the strongest earthquake in the Himalayas in more than 80 years and many aftershocks, including another strong and damaging earthquake this week.

The Defense Ministry in Kathmandu announced the helicopter went down three days ago in a mountainous area of east-central Nepal and said it was not possible for anyone onboard to have survived.

U.S. officials they are assessing the details of the crash of the UH-1Y Huey helicopter, which was part of an American task force in Nepal dubbed Operation Sahayogi Haat (Helping Hand).

The wreckage was found by a Nepalese search team about 8 miles north of Charikot, the military said in a statement.

The Pentagon said that the families of the Marines had been notified and that the names of the crew members would be released within 24 hours.

“They were courageous, they were selfless individuals dedicated to the international rescue mission here in Nepal,” Marine Lt. Gen. John Wissler said.

The Huey went missing while it was distributing aid on Tuesday, the day a strong aftershock hit Nepal and killed more than 100 people and after the crew was heard over the radio saying the aircraft was experiencing a fuel problem.

The Huey, a helicopter dating back to the Vietnam War era, was completely destroyed, Nepal's top defence ministry official said.

After a three-day search the Huey was spotted near the village of Ghorthali at an altitude of 11,200 ft (3,400 m), an army general told Reuters, as helicopters and Nepali ground troops converged on the crash site.

Air Force search and rescue crew identified the crash site in a rugged forest at 11,000 feet elevation, but couldn’t stay on the scene because of high wind and inclement weather.

The area's tallest peak soars to more than 7,000 metres (23,000 ft). Hillsides are cloaked with forest that made it hard to find the helicopter even though it came down just a few miles from Charikot, the capital of Dolakha district, half a day's drive to the east of Kathmandu.

An army base in the town has been serving as a hub for operations to airlift and treat those injured in the two earthquakes, and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala flew in on Thursday for an on-the-spot briefing.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter thanked the Nepalese and Indian governments for their continued support in the search and recovery operations.

“This tragedy is a reminder of the vital but dangerous role that American service members play in delivering humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” he said. “Our mission continues in Nepal, and we remain dedicated to answering the call when disaster strikes, both in the Asia-Pacific and around the world.”

To verify that the broken, burned wreckage was that of the missing Huey, the U.S. sent in four Air Force pararescue specialists and a combat rescue officer. That verification was announced Friday morning.

No distress call was made before the Huey went missing while taking supplies to stranded villagers, but there may have been a transmission about a fuel problem, officials said.

The aircraft is attached to Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 based at Camp Pendleton.

The squadron was in the Philippines on a training mission when it was directed to Nepal to join the relief effort after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on April 25 that killed more than 8,300 people. On Tuesday, it was responding to a magnitude 7.3 aftershock that caused additional deaths and destruction.

The first quake, which struck on April 25 with a magnitude of 7.8, has killed 8,199 people. The death toll from a 7.3 aftershock on Tuesday has reached 117, with many victims in Dolakha.

Saturday 16 May 2015

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-nepal-marine-chopper-20150515-story.html

http://www.voanews.com/content/wreckage-of-us-helicopter-found-in-nepal/2768581.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/16/quake-nepal-helicopter-idUSKBN0O00K120150516

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Nepal’s latest earthquake: Death toll crosses 100, search continues for missing US Army helicopter

The death toll from Tuesday’s earthquake in Nepal has crossed 100 with more than 2,500 people injured, authorities said Thursday. The 7.3-magnitude quake hit the region less than three weeks after a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed over 8,000 people.

Rescue operations continued Thursday even as bodies buried under rubble were being recovered with the use of heavy machinery. Tuesday's earthquake also claimed the lives of at least 17 people in neighboring India and one person in China. On Thursday, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala visited Charikot, one of the hardest-hit villages by the latest earthquake and subsequent aftershocks.

"After the first quake, we were not prepared for a second one so big," Koirala said, according to the Associated Press (AP), adding that the upcoming monsoon season poses a challenge to the impoverished Himalayan country where hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless. Nepal's army and police force, along with rescue teams from different countries, have been deployed in the country to carry out rescue and relief operations since the April 25 earthquake, which was the worst one to hit the country in 80 years.

Meanwhile, a major search operation for a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter entered a third day with U.S. and Nepalese military helicopters and hundreds of ground troops scouring eastern Nepal. A team also reportedly sent out a drone on Thursday to look for the missing aircraft, which was conducting relief work in Charikot, about 81 miles from the capital Kathmandu. An aerial search for the aircraft on Wednesday had found "nothing of note," Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said, according to AP.

“We are still trying to locate it. There is no evidence to prove that it has crashed,” Marines spokeswoman Capt. Cassandra Gesecki said, according to the Irish Times.

Thursday 13 May 2015

http://www.ibtimes.com/nepals-latest-earthquake-death-toll-crosses-100-search-continues-missing-us-army-1921864

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Forensics identify victims of helicopter accident in Argentina

Argentine and French forensic experts have identified 10 people, two Argentine and eight French nationals, who died on March 9 when two helicopters crashed in the northern Argentine province of La Rioja, court officials told Efe.

The team used an odontological method and DNA samples given by the French victims’ families, Daniel Herrera Piedrabuena, the judge leading the investigation, told Efe on Tuesday.

The court will retain the victims’ DNA samples to confirm the findings.

The bodies would be sent to Buenos Aires and from there to Paris once the forensic process is completed.

Among the victims were three top French sports athletes: champion sailor Florence Arthaud, former 2012 Olympic gold medalist swimmer Camille Muffat, and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist boxer Alexis Vastine.

The fatal accident occurred in Villa Castelli, a remote area in the foothills of the Andes, more than 300 km (186 miles) from the provincial capital of La Rioja.

The cause of the accident is still unknown.

The two Argentine victims were the helicopters’ pilots while the French victims were participants of a new reality show that was going to be filmed in that area.

Thursday 19 March 2015

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2379679&CategoryId=14093

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Bodies identified in Argentine chopper crash

Forensic experts have identified the bodies of the 10 victims killed when two helicopters filming a French reality show collided in Argentina, including three of France's top sports stars.

'The bodies of the eight French nationals and two Argentine pilots have been identified,' the Argentine judge leading the investigation, Daniel Herrera, said Monday.

The helicopters were filming an episode of Dropped, a reality show in which sports stars were taken blindfolded into inhospitable environments, when they collided in mid-air in a mountainous region of northwest Argentina.

The accident killed Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, renowned yachtswoman Florence Arthaud and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, as well as five French television crew members and two Argentine pilots.

It took French and Argentine forensic experts a week to identify the bodies, which were badly burned in the crash.

Herrera said they had relied on dental and medical records and X-rays.

'The bodies are still at the morgue (in the city of La Rioja). I will sign the authorisation for them to be taken to Buenos Aires,' he said.

Tuesday 17 March 2015

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/sthamerica/2015/03/17/bodies-identified-in-argentine-chopper-crash.html

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9 victims of Florida military helicopter accident identified, 2 still missing

According to reports the bodies of seven Marines and two soldiers have been recovered from the wreckage. The other two soldiers are feared dead.

After hours of searching up and down the foggy Florida coast for survivors, Military officials announced Thursday morning they would be transitioning their search and rescue operation into a recovery effort and safety investigation.

"At this point we are not hopeful for survivors," said Colonel Monte Cannon the 96 Test Wing Vice Commander at Eglin Air Force Base

Seven marines and four soldiers were aboard the helicopter when it crashed in the Santa Rosa Sound during a routine training mission. Rescuers found wreckage and human remains Thursday, and two bodies of soldiers were recovered.

The chopper was carrying four guardsmen and seven Marines when went it crashed

According to officials, the Louisiana National Guard and the U.S. Marine Corps were operating a nighttime training exercise when the helicopter, carrying four guardsmen and seven Marines, went down. Media reports say the night was heavy with a thick fog.

Nine bodies have been identified so far.

Local crews, like the Pace Fire District, have been helping military officials search the Santa Rosa Sound for any debris or human remains but heavy fog has made their job difficult.

"The biggest thing is the weather it's a hindrance to us with the fog our visibility is limited so we're going out in groups to make sure that the safety factor is there for the boats involved," said Robby Whitfield, Chief of the Pace Fire District.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. The recording device, similar to a black box on an airplane, is still believed to be under water with the wreckage.

Military officials have not released any names of those aboard the Black Hawk that went down.

"We have retrieved remains. That's all I can say at this point. We have an armed service medical examiner out there right now and he's working that stuff," said Eglin Fire Chief Mark Giuliano.

Another helicopter accompanying the crashed Black Hawk during the training drill returned safely.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is currently under way.

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/296154851.html

http://time.com/3743785/army-blackhawk-helicopter-crash-florida/

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Bodies found on beach after chopper crash with Louisiana soldiers

An Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter has crashed in the Florida Panhandle, and seven Marines and four soldiers are missing.

Some confirmed human remains have washed ashore in the area where crews are searching for the missing, a spokesman for the Eglin Air Force Base told the Washington Post on Wednesday morning.

“We have confirmed that we have had some human remains wash ashore in the area where our search and rescue team have begun a larger scale operation,” Andrew Bourland said, adding that debris from the aircraft has also washed ashore.

The helicopter is believed to have gone down in the water and foggy conditions were reported in the area at the time of the crash, though it is too soon to say what might have caused the mishap.

According to a Pentagon official who spoke anonymously to the Associated Press, nearly 12 hours after the craft was reported missing, all 11 service members are presumed dead. However, the efforts are still considered a search and rescue operation at this time, Bourland said.

Foggy conditions in the search area have made the operation more difficult, Bourland told the Post. But with dawn breaking, efforts are expected to ramp up.

“We’ve got some daylight, but it is overcast and quite foggy,” Bourland said. “It is having an impact on getting the full scale rescue moving now.”

The helicopter carrying highly trained Marines in a special operations unit, was on a night training mission outside the base, which is near Valparaiso, Fla. It was reported missing at around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, and debris from the crash was found at about 2:00 a.m. Wednesday on an inland stretch of beach between Pensacola and Destin. The military owns miles of beach in the area, which are typically used for training missions.

The Marines are part of a Camp Lejeune-based special operations group and the soldiers are from an Army National Guard unit based out of Hammond, La.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Marines, soldiers and family members of those involved in this mishap. We are working closely with all parties involved to locate our Marines and the Army aircrew as soon as possible,” Major Gen. Joseph Osterman, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command said in a statement.

The downed helicopter was one of two on the mission. The base said the “second helicopter and its personnel on board have returned and are accounted for at this time.”

“Names of the aircrew and Marines on board are being withheld pending [next of kin] notification,” read the statement posted by the base. “The accident is under investigation. Additional details will be provided as they become available.”

Wednesday 11 March 2015

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/11/army-helicopter-crashes-in-florida-7-marines-4-soldiers-missing/

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Argentina to recover remains of French athletes from helicopter crash

Argentine recovery teams arrived on Tuesday at the site of a helicopter collision to recover the bodies of 10 people, including French sports stars participating in a reality TV show.

Aviation experts made it to the crash site in a mountainous area northwest of Buenos Aires in the early hours, said Judge Virginia Illanes Bordon.

"In a short while we will begin the task of recovery of the bodies," she told TN News.

News of the crash and the loss of star athletes cast France into mourning.

Among those aboard the helicopters and presumed dead were champion sailor Florence Arthaud, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Camille Muffat and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine.

They were taking part in the filming of the survival series "Dropped" when two helicopters collided in mid-air, apparently while filming the show near the town of Villa Castilla in Argentina's La Rioja province.

Eight French nationals and the two Argentine pilots were killed, a police source said.

Provincial spokesman Horacio Alarcon said the weather conditions were good and the cause of the crash was unknown.

The provincial government later said they included Arthaud, 57, Muffat, 25, and Vastine, 28.

The series, which was to air on French television channel TF1, involved eight athletes being dropped into inhospitable environments for an adventure- and survival-themed reality show.

The provincial government said a cast and crew of around 80 people, mostly French nationals, had descended on the area in recent days to film the series.

Shooting began in late February in Ushuaia, at the southern tip of South America in the glacial landscape of Patagonia.

It then moved to La Rioja, whose scenic mountain landscapes are popular with tourists. The place where the crash occurred is around 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) north of Buenos Aires.

Police and firefighters were still working to recover the victims' bodies when night fell, using floodlights to illuminate the area, a police source told AFP.

Officials from the air force, which is in charge of investigating air accidents in Argentina, were en route to the scene. "It's been four hours since the collision and (the wreckage) is still on fire. There's smoke rising from the helicopters," said a police source at the scene.

Tuesday 10 March 2015

http://sports.ndtv.com/othersports/news/238800-french-sports-stars-among-10-killed-in-argentine-helicopter-crash

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Helicopter carrying 12 goes missing in Russia

A Mi-8 helicopter with 12 people aboard disappeared in Russia's Tuva republic in southern Siberia, regional transport prosecutor's office said Friday.

"The helicopter disappeared 220 km east of (the republic's capital) Kyzyl," the Interfax news agency quoted the prosecutor's spokesperson Oxana Gorbunova as saying.

Radio contact with the helicopter was lost when it was on the way between Sorug and Kyzyl. And a rescue team has been sent to that area by another Mi-8, Gorbunova said.

There are seven passengers, three crew members and two technicians on board. According to sources from local law enforcement agencies, the helicopter belongs to Tuva Airlines and was leased for private purpose.

No information has been updated till now about the fate of the Mi-8 or the people aboard.

Friday 10 October 2014

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=246013

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