Seven Soldiers Dead in Philippine Helicopter Crash

A Philippine Air Force helicopter crashed Saturday while resupplying troops fighting communist rebels in the southern province of Bukidnon, killing a colonel and six other troops, the military announced.

The helicopter, a Vietnam War-era Huey UH-1H, was ferrying supplies, along with another Huey chopper, to a forward military base in the remote Pantaron Mountain Range when the accident occurred, said Maj. Gen. Andres Centeno.

“The pilots of the other Huey radioed the ill-fated aircraft that they were trailing smoke,” Centeno said.

Centeno said soldiers who reached the crash site, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Impasug-ong town in Bukidnon province, “found no survivors.”

He said they were withholding the names of crash victims, including an Air Force colonel, three crew members and three Army soldiers, pending notification of their kin.

He said the other Huey helicopter spotted smoke trailing from the engine of the ill-fated aircraft minutes before it crashed.

“The pilots of the other Huey radioed the ill-fated aircraft that they were trailing smoke,” Centeno said. “The pilots managed to steer the damaged aircraft and crashed into an open field.”

Centeno said the helicopter nosed-dived when it was executing a turn, and fell to the ground.