Ten US soldiers killed in helicopter crash off Djibouti
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Your support makes all the difference.The US military has confirmed that 10 US troops died in the crash of two transport helicopters off northern Djibouti's coast during a training mission.
Two CH-53E helicopters were carrying a dozen crew and troops when they went down on Friday in the Gulf of Aden, near the coastal town of Ras Siyyan. The troops were members of a counterterrorism force headquartered in Djibouti.
Two crew members were rescued by Djiboutian soldiers. US officials refused to disclose their condition. The US-led Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa said in a statement: "Next-of-kin notifications have been made to all family members of the deceased; however, names are being withheld in deference to family members' privacy."
The remains of the eight US Marines and two Air Force airmen were transported to the US yesterday morning, a task force spokeswoman, Major Susan Romano, said.
Troops were continuing with efforts to recover the wreckage of the two helicopters last night to help investigators piece together what happened before the crash, Major Romano said.
The major added that she heard reports that the choppers crashed in waters that were about 18 feet (5.5 metres) deep. Visibility had been good at the time of the crash, with light winds.
The family of pilot Susan Craig said she was one of those rescued. The pilot, 28, telephoned her parents, Pat and Lewis Sackett, on Saturday afternoon, her mother said in an interview with a local newspaper.
Mrs Sackett added that her daughter was not sure what caused the crash. "They hung on to a piece of the aircraft," she said. "It was three hours before they were rescued."
The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, set up in the former French colony in June 2002, is responsible for fighting terrorism in nine countries in the region: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia in Africa and Yemen on the south-western corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
US officials say the region has been used by terrorists as a place to hide, recruit operatives and stage attacks.
The area has also suffered four terrorist attacks either claimed by or attributed to al-Qa'ida. In August 1998, car bombs destroyed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; in October 2000, suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole while it was refuelling in Yemen; and in November 2002, attackers tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner minutes before a car bomb destroyed an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya.AP
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