Two US Helicopters Crash off African Coast, 10 Missing

18/02/2006| IslamWeb

Two U.S. Marine Corps helicopters have crashed in Africa off the coast of Djibouti and two crew members have been found alive but 10 are still missing, a Pentagon spokeswoman said on Friday.

There was no reason to believe hostile fire was involved in the crash, CNN said, quoting U.S. officials.

"There is an investigation under way," said Tech Sergeant, Cindy Dorfner, a U.S. Air Force spokeswoman in the Horn of Africa office.

Each of the CH53 marine transport helicopters was carrying six crew members and two have been rescued by Djiboutian military officials.

"The status of the remaining 10 crew members is unknown," Dorfner said, adding that the two crew members rescued were injured but are in stable condition.

She said U.S. officials were notified by Djiboutian military officials about the crash at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT).

PHOTO CAPTION

In this image provided by the U.S. Military Combined Joined Task Force Horn of Africa on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006, members of the U.S. Military Combined Task Force, right, and the Djibouti military search the area Saturday where two U.S. (AP)