Herald-Sun

U.S. Chopper Crashes in Afghanistan By ELLEN KNICKMEYER : Associated Press Writer Jan 20, 2002 : 2:59 am ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- A U.S. military helicopter with seven Marines on board crashed Sunday en route from an airfield near the capital, Kabul, to remote northern Afghanistan, a Marine spokesman said.

Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there apparently were some deaths.

Rescuers on the scene confirmed that at least some Marines survived the crash, Marine spokesman Lt. James Jarvis told a briefing at the U.S. military base in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.

"It is too early to tell the cause of the accident," Jarvis said. The identities of those on board would not be released until their families were notified.

Jarvis declined to give the specific location of the crash, other than to say that the CH-53E Super Stallion took off from the Bagram air base and went down in a mountainous region of northern Afghanistan about 7:30 a.m. local time. It was on a resupply mission.

"There are survivors," Jarvis said. "We are trying to evacuate them to a higher-level treatment facility as soon as possible."

The worst single casualty toll for U.S. forces in the Afghanistan campaign came Jan. 9, when all seven Marines aboard a refueling tanker were killed in a fiery crash near Shamsi air base in remote southwestern Pakistan.

The cause remains under investigation, though Marines said there was no sign of hostile ground fire.

The only other fatal crash of a U.S. military aircraft during the war occurred Oct. 19, when an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Pakistan, killing two Army Rangers.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2002