US soldier among eight dead in Iraq chopper crash
BAGHDAD (AFP) — A Russian made Mi-17 helicopter belonging to the Iraqi military has crashed in northern Iraq, killing eight people on board including a US service person, a US military spokesman said on Tuesday.
"Recovery operations have been completed and there are no survivors," Lieutenant Michael Street told AFP.
Street said there was one coalition force member among the eight people on board.
He identified the Iraqi aircraft as an Mi-17 helicopter.
The helicopter went missing on Monday. Its wreckage was found on Tuesday near a village west of the northern oil refinery town of Baiji, a defence ministry official told AFP.
The helicopter had lifted off from the Al-Sinya base near Baiji and was heading to the main northern city of Mosul at the time of the crash, an officer from Salaheddin provincial police said.
He said the cause of the crash remained unclear but added "there was a sandstorm yesterday."
The last reported contact with the helicopter was at 2:40 pm (1140 GMT) on Monday, Street said.
