Army Helicopter Crashes in the Philippines; 10 Aboard

A U.S. Army helicopter carrying 10 troops crashed at sea early today, U.S. military officials said, resulting in the first casualties in Southeast Asia in the expanding war on terrorism.

Philippine Gen. Roy Cimatu, chief of the Southern Command, said three people were rescued, apparently by fishermen, and the bodies of three others were recovered.

U.S. military planes and Philippine vessels were searching the shark-infested waters in the southern Philippines where the helicopter went down, but by midmorning Philippine coast guard Lt. Arnold Valino reported that were no signs at the crash site of the wreckage or any more survivors.

Before the crash, the MH-47 Chinook had just finished ferrying dozens of Special Forces troops to the island of Basilan, where they are assisting and training Philippine troops combating the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic rebel group whose hostages include two American missionaries.

It was unclear what caused the crash, but there were no reports of hostile fire, the Pentagon and Philippine military officials said. Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Diomedio Villanueva blamed the crash on a systems malfunction, according to television reports.

“There were no hostilities; there was no hostile ground fire,” said Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman for the joint U.S.-Philippine exercise in Zamboanga on Mindanao island. “It would be more of a technical problem.”

The aircraft crashed in darkness en route to Mactan air base, a Philippine facility in the central part of the country being used by U.S. forces in the anti-terrorism campaign.

The helicopter went down about 150 miles northeast of Zamboanga at 2:30 a.m., U.S. Army Maj. Cynthia Teramae told reporters here. A second MH-47 also returning to Mactan remained in the area, joining other aircraft and ships to conduct a search, Teramae said, fighting back tears.

The Pentagon withheld the names of the victims until relatives could be notified. Among the dead were the Army crew and members of other services flying as passengers, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said in Washington. Philippine officials said the helicopter had an eight-man crew.

About 660 U.S. troops are to participate in the U.S.-Philippine exercise aimed at destroying the Abu Sayyaf on Basilan, where the group has been holding missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Kansas since May.

The exercise, known as Balikatan, or “Shoulder to Shoulder,” which is just getting underway, is scheduled to last at least six months and could be extended up to a year.

About 160 Special Forces troops will operate on Basilan island, sometimes joining Filipino troops on patrol. Another 500 U.S. support personnel will be in nearby Zamboanga and in the central city of Cebu. About 6,000 Philippine troops will take part in the operation.

Today’s crash was the third of a U.S. military helicopter this month. On Feb. 14, two Marines from Camp Pendleton were killed and two were injured in a crash in the Chocolate Mountains of Imperial County during a training maneuver.

The UH-1N Huey helicopter crashed at the southwestern end of the mountain range, often used for training.

Four days earlier, a Florida Army National Guard AH-64A Apache attack helicopter with a crew of two crashed in northern Florida while on a training mission, killing one crew member and injuring the pilot.

Times special correspondent Jacinto reported from Zamboanga. Schrader reported from Washington and Paddock from Jakarta, Indonesia.