Soldiers escape Afghan helicopter fire

A US-led Chinook helicopter was destroyed by a fire that broke out as it made a “hard landing” with six crew and 25 Afghan troops on board, the US military said today. No one was hurt.

The incident occurred as the massive, twin-rotor aircraft was rushing troops to tackle militants near Spin Boldak, a town close to the border with Pakistan, a military statement said.

It said hostile fire was not involved.

US military spokesman Lt Col Jerry O’Hara said there were no casualties among the six crew and 25 troops on board.

The accident comes a month after a Chinook that had been modified for special forces operations was shot down in eastern Kunar province, also near the border with Pakistan, killing all 16 US forces on board.

In April, 15 US service members and three US civilians were killed when their Chinook went down in a sandstorm while returning to the main US base at Bagram. In a separate statement today, the military released the findings of an investigation into the cause of that crash.

It said “the aircraft encountered a severe dust storm with winds over 45 knots that caused the pilots to lose outside visibility”.