Helicopter Crash in Kandahar - No Marines on chopper

We will have more details as they become available - The crash occured close to where some of our Marines are at... Stock photo used - The crashed helo is a burned out wreck...


Afghanistan crash kills 16: no Canadians on board


By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service July 19, 2009 11:08 AM


Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan -- A Russian Mi-8 Hip helicopter under contract to NATO forces crashed Sunday killing 16 people and injuring five others as it was taking off from this airfield, which is the logistical hub for the war against the Taliban, sending a huge black plume of smoke into the sky.
There were no Canadians were on the helicopter which crashed, according to Canadian military spokesmen at the Kandahar Airfield which is the main headquarters for Canada's Task Force Afghanistan. According to Interfax, the Russian news agency, the helicopter was owned by Vertikal-T.
The twin turbine Hip transport is a common sight in southern Afghanistan, where re-supply and passengers are often moved by air because the Taliban plants improvised explosive devices on the few roads in the region, making them dangerous to travel on.
Much such work is done by NATO helicopters including six Canadian Chinook CH-47 transports. But with 38,000 coalition troops in the rugged south, demand for food, water and ammunition and more arriving every day, the demand has become so great that scores of Soviet-era transport helicopters have been working under contract with Canadian, British and American forces.
Many such contracts in Afghanistan involve Skylink, a Canadian company which has leasing arrangements with helicopter companies from eastern Europe. Contractual arrangements prevented the alliance from saying which company actually held the contract on the Russian-owned aircraft which crashed on Sunday, a NATO spokesman in Kandahar said on Sunday.
This was the third serious helicopter accident in southern Afghanistan this month. Two Canadian airmen and a British Royal engineer died earlier this month when a Canadian Forces CH-146 Griffon helicopter crashed on takeoff at an airfield in neighbouring Zabul. The Taliban claimed to have shot down another leased Soviet-era Mi-26 Halo transport helicopter last Tuesday in neighbouring Helmand province. Six Ukrainian crew members died in the crash of what is the largest helicopter flying in the world today. The incident is being investigated by NATO and Afghan officials.
Because of the intense heat and dust and many high mountain ranges, Afghanistan is regarded as one of the most dangerous places in the world to conduct helicopter operations.
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