News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Search & Recovery Team Members Killed in Air Crash

Date: April 07, 2001

"Helicopter crash in Vietnam kills 16

The Pentagon has confirmed that at least 16 people involved in the search for the wartime remains of US personnel in Vietnam have been killed in a helicopter crash.

The Pentagon says there were no survivors in the crash of the MI-17, and seven of those aboard were US military personnel.

It says the helicopter was being used as part of the joint US-Vietnamese program to find and identify the remains of Americans still listed as missing in action from the Vietnam war.

The accident occurred around 400 kilometres south of Hanoi, the helicopter losing stability before crashing into the side of a mountain."

Vietnam chopper, searching for US war remains, crashes

A helicopter carrying a team searching for the remains of Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War has crashed in central Vietnam, killing all 20 people on board.

Witnesses said they saw the helicopter making unusual movements in the air before it crashed into the side of a mountain.

There are currently no large-scale MIA excavations under way in Vietnam but some Americans remain in the country year-round doing advance work for future digs.

US Embassy officials said they had no immediate information about whether any Americans were on board.

16 Die in Vietnam Helicopter Crash
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Seven Americans and nine Vietnamese were killed Saturday in a helicopter crash in Vietnam, the Pentagon said.

The helicopter was believed to be carrying a team searching for Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War when it crashed in central Vietnam, Vietnamese officials said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Cmdr Terry Sutherland, said seven Americans were among the 16 people killed.

At the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, spokesman David Monk said the embassy had little information about the crash but had heard that at least one passenger "may have been assigned" to the MIA task force.

There was no immediate word from the Pentagon about the helicopter's mission.

Officials in Vietnam were reporting that all 20 people on board were killed.

Villagers saw the helicopter making unusual swinging-like movements in the air before it crashed into the side of a mountain, a local official said.

Authorities found 19 badly burned bodies, police said. A man who was alive when they reached the site told them the plane was carrying an MIA search team, officials said. He later died.

There are currently no large-scale MIA excavations under way in Vietnam, but some Americans remain in the country year-round doing advance work for future digs.

The sky was somewhat hazy when the helicopter crashed mid-afternoon near Thanh Tranh village in Quang Binh province's Bo Tranh district, officials said. The area is about 280 miles south of Hanoi.

Officials were investigating the cause of the crash.

Since 1973, the remains of 591 American servicemen formerly listed as unaccounted for have been identified and returned to their families. There are 1,992 Americans still unaccounted for from the war in Southeast Asia, including 1,498 in Vietnam.

The United States spends $5 million to $6 million annually on MIA recovery operations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.