Flying Rhino resumes after death crash

A joint military exercise resumed in the Czech Republic today less than 24 hours after a helicopter crashed, killing all six British soldiers on board.

Investigation teams were examining the remains of the British army Lynx helicopter which may have hit power lines during exercise Flying Rhino 110 miles south of Prague.

Two victims were from 1 Regiment Army Air Corps based at Guetersloh, and four military passengers were from 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, based at Sennelager, also in Germany.

Both the Czech and British sides agreed to resume the exercise, which was put on hold following the accident, Czech Air Force spokeswoman Sabina Introvicova said.

She said the exercise would go ahead without British and Czech helicopters because it was still not clear why the craft crashed.

Andrej Cirtek, a spokesman for the Czech Defence Ministry, said a special committee of the British armed forces was to arrive in the Czech Republic later in the day to investigate the crash.

The exercise, which began on Monday and had been set to continue to September 17, involved scenarios in which pilots would search for ground targets and simulate attacks from the air. Some 450 British soldiers were involved in the exercise.

It was unclear what exactly the Lynx was doing when it crashed, but a ministry official said the helicopter was practising low-altitude manoeuvres.

Cirtek said power lines near the scene of the crash were damaged but was not able to say whether they were struck by the helicopter.

Introvicova confirmed a collision with the power lines was one of several possible causes of the crash.