Copter Crash Kills Five U.S. Soldiers

(CBS)  A U.S. military helicopter crashed in central Honduras killing all five U.S. soldiers aboard, the U.S. military said Thursday.

The American Black Hawk helicopter from Soto Cano Air Force Base in Palmerola crashed at about 8:55 p.m. Wednesday while on routine training, said Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command in Florida.

"Right now we are classifying it as a training accident," Costello said. "It is being investigated."

The names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of relatives. The crew belonged to the 1-228th Aviation Regiment, part of the U.S. Army South in Puerto Rico.

The cause of the crash was not known, but there had been heavy rains in the area over the past three days.

U.S. Army South spokesman Maj. Rich Crusan confirmed that five crew members were aboard the helicopter. He said the bodies would be returned to Soto Cano Air Force Base.

The control tower at the La Mesa international airport in San Pedro Sula reported that the helicopter had arrived there from the Palmerola base at 7.30 p.m. to participate in a night landing exercise.

After reloading fuel, it departed again and was headed back to the base in central Honduras when it crashed into a mountain.

Honduran and U.S. soldiers participated in the rescue operations, which lasted 10 hours, he said, adding that the helicopter was destroyed.

Palmerola is a $30 million base built in 1983. It lodges 400 U.S. soldiers, who rotate every three months.

During the turmoil of the 80's in Central America, Palmerola was the main U.S. military operations center in the area.

U.S. troops in Honduras perform counternarcotics and humanitarian operations, like building schools and assisting with disaster relief.

A total of 426 U.S. troops are in Honduras, according to the Defense Department. Of them 173 are Army personnel, and 206 are in the Air Force.
In May, more than 900 Black Hawk helicopters were grounded to fix suspected transmission problems.

Since October, the U.S. military has reported 11 aircraft accidents and three fatalities. The Air Force had the most accidents, with four, while all three deaths were on Army flights.

In fiscal year 2001, the last for which complete statistics are available, there were 52 such accidents and 65 deaths.