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Military chopper crash claims 4 lives in Vietnam

Wednesday, 28 January 2015 5:45 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 28 January 2015 5:53 PM ]

This file photo shows an American-built Bell UH-1 Iroquois (also known as Huey) military helicopter.

At least four soldiers have been killed after a technical glitch brought down a military helicopter during a training mission in southern Vietnam.

Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of the general staff of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), said the American-built Huey chopper took off from Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, located more than 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) south of the capital, Hanoi, at 7.15 a.m. local time (0015 GMT) on Wednesday.

He added that the aircraft lost contact about eight minutes later, and disappeared from radar.

Colonel Le Van Hanh, political commissar of Vietnam’s air force division 370, said the pilots had reported engine failure, and sought to fly to a farm on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, where the chopper crashed.

Vietnamese military seized about 50 Bell UH-1 Iroquois (also known as Huey) military helicopters from US-backed South Vietnam following the end of Vietnam War, and reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975.

Most of the choppers are still in use for military training missions as well as search and rescue operations.

Last July, twenty people died when a Russian-made MI-171 helicopter crashed during a parachute training exercise on the outskirts of Hanoi.

MP/HMV/SS

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