Rescuers reach fallen US helicopter wreckage

Rescuers have reached the wreckage of a US special forces’ helicopter that crashed into a rugged mountain ravine in eastern Afghanistan, but there was still no word on the fate of 17 troops on board, a US military spokesman said today.

“We are at the wreckage,” said US military spokesman Jerry O’Hara. “We are conducting search and recovery operations. But we are more into the recovery stage.”

He declined to elaborate on efforts to find survivors or the bodies of the 17, who were thought to have perished in Tuesday’s crash.

A US military statement said the rescuers were “assessing the cause of the crash and the status of the 17 service members”.