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Two feared dead after South Korean helicopter crashes
Seoul, Jan 19: Four foreigners and a South Korean were rescued today after their firefighting helicopter crashed into a dam with seven people aboard, police said.
Seoul, Jan 19: Four foreigners and a South Korean were rescued today after their firefighting helicopter crashed into a dam with seven people aboard, police said.
The Polish-built W-3A Sokol helicopter went down in the
southern city of Hapchon yesterday on a training mission with two South Koreans, one British helicopter designer and four poles on board.
Police said there were still searching for the two missing people, a 39-year-old Korean pilot and a polish co-pilot. But Yonhap news agency said the two were presumed dead. "The five survivors were taken to a hospital," a police officer said, adding the survivors had sustained slight injuries.
The helicopter lost radio communication immediately after its takeoff for a test flight, prompting a massive search by 1,300 policemen, military troops and firefighters.
Yonhap said one of those aboard the helicopter had made a mobile phone call from a mountain near the dam. The survivors told police the plane had a mechanical problem.
The survivors then swam to the shore and spent the cold winter night in a nearby mountain by covering their body with leaves, he said.
The five foreigners from a polish helicopter manufacturing firm have been in South Korea to install and test automatic flight systems on the helicopter.
Bureau Report
Police said there were still searching for the two missing people, a 39-year-old Korean pilot and a polish co-pilot. But Yonhap news agency said the two were presumed dead. "The five survivors were taken to a hospital," a police officer said, adding the survivors had sustained slight injuries.
The helicopter lost radio communication immediately after its takeoff for a test flight, prompting a massive search by 1,300 policemen, military troops and firefighters.
Yonhap said one of those aboard the helicopter had made a mobile phone call from a mountain near the dam. The survivors told police the plane had a mechanical problem.
The survivors then swam to the shore and spent the cold winter night in a nearby mountain by covering their body with leaves, he said.
The five foreigners from a polish helicopter manufacturing firm have been in South Korea to install and test automatic flight systems on the helicopter.
Bureau Report