Two killed in RAF helicopter crash

Two people have died after an RAF helicopter with seven people on board crashed in Kosovo close to the border zone with Macedonia.

The men, the helicopter's two pilots, are 28-year-old Captain Andrew Crous of the Army Air Corps and RAF Fl Lt James Maguire, 31, both based at RAF Benson.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said that the helicopter went down in bad weather in hills around Kranacia, to the south west of the capital Pristina.

The five injured - four soldiers from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and an RAF loadmaster - are being treated at a US field hospital at Camp Bondsteel. There injuries were said not to be life threatening.

The spokesman added: "It appears that the aircraft had to execute an emergency landing in heavy rain, low cloud and mountainous terrain. There is absolutely no evidence of any hostile action."

Following the crash, in American-controlled southern Kosovo, a US immediate response team, with two Blackhawk helicopters equipped with full trauma handling equipment, was despatched to the site.

All the personnel involved were part of Task Force Cambrai which is currently involved in interdiction operations on the Kosovo-Macedonian border against ethnic Albanian insurgents.