Boeing's CH-47 Chinook helicopter - Waging the War against Terrorism [Page 17].

A Fight in Afghanistan

Unit patch from F Company - "Big Windy", 159th Aviation Regiment.

88-00100: A Tragic

Loss in

Afghanistan

A U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter crashed during a dust storm in Afghanistan on 6 April 2005 killing 18 people on board, the military said in a statement. A U.S. spokeswoman said the helicopter came down in Ghazni province, 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, while on a routine mission.

Afghans work through the wreckage of a crashed U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter.

In this image taken from video, an Afghan inspects the wreckage of a U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter.

In this image taken from video, Afghan security forces inspect the wreckage of a U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter.

In this image taken from video, Afghans inspect the wreckage of a U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter.

Afghans work in the site where a U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter crashed.

An Afghan inspects the wreckage of a U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter.

Afghans attempt to extinguish the remains of a U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter which crashed during a dust storm in Ghazni province, 120 km southwest of the capital of Kabul in this image taken from television footage on 6 April 2005.

7 April 2005: U.S. troops walk past the wreckage of a U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter that crashed in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul. The crash killed 18 people a U.S. military spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Chinook crashes in Afghanistan: 18 dead

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. military CH-47D Chinook helicopter smashed into a flat desert in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, 6 April 2005, killing the four American crew and at least 14 others, officials said. It was the deadliest military crash here since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom.

An Afghan police official said most of the dead appeared to be American. However, the U.S. military provided no details of the passengers’ identity.

The U.S. military suggested that severe weather brought down the CH-47D Chinook near Ghazni city, 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, as it returned from a mission in the militant-plagued south.

“Eighteen people have now been confirmed dead in the crash,” a military statement said. Two others listed on the flight manifest were initially “unaccounted for” when the recovery operation was called off at nightfall, it said. By Saturday, all the remains had been discovered.

The military had initially confirmed nine fatalities. Spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore said the total had risen as recovery teams examined the wreckage. The victims’ names were withheld until their next of kin could be informed.

Moore said the transport helicopter was flying back from a “routine mission” to the main American base at Bagram when controllers lost radio contact. The helicopter crashed as it returned to Bagram from a mission to deliver mail and supplies and transport personnel in the insurgency-plagued south. The charred wreckage was found in an area of flat desert near a cluster of brick kilns. A second Chinook made it safely back to the sprawling base north of Kabul.

Moore also said investigators from the U.S. Army's Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, were traveling to Afghanistan on Saturday, adding “Indications are it was bad weather and that there were no survivors”.

Chinook helicopter 88-00100, belonging to F Company - "Big Windy", 159th Aviation Regiment, was deployed to the area from Giebelstadt, Germany to conduct missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Abdul Rahman Sarjang, the chief of police in Ghazni, said the helicopter came down at about 2:30 p.m. (1200 GMT) near a brick factory 3 miles outside the city and burst into flames. Afghan and U.S. troops rushed to cordon off the area, he said.

Sarjang said he saw nine bodies. “They were all wearing American uniforms and they were all dead,” he told The Associated Press by cell phone from the crash site.

Sarjang said witnesses claimed one of the helicopter’s two rotors looked damaged before it hit the ground. But he had no explanation for why the aircraft crashed in an area of desert. He said he saw no sign of enemy fire.

Associated Press Television News footage showed dozens of Afghan security forces and officials scurrying round the still-burning wreckage. Strong winds fanned the flames and whipped thick dust into the darkened sky.

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