Meals on Wheels chopper down

[Gonz]

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A U.S. helicopter with 10 people on board crashed near the Banda Aceh airport Monday while on a tsunami-relief operation, a U.S. military spokesman said.


AP Photo


Reuters
Slideshow: Asian Tsunami Disaster




It was not yet known if anybody was killed or injured, said Joe Plenzler, a U.S. military spokesman in Medan, 250 miles southeast of Banda Aceh.


The SH60 helicopter crashed in a rice paddy about 500 yards from the airport in Banda Aceh, the main city on Indonesia's tsunami-battered Sumatra island, as it was trying to land, he said.


"There was no fire ball but a little smoke," he said. "It landed on its side."


A Singapore air force officer, Andre Nabaison, said he thought all 10 on board the chopper survived. He was not sure about injuries.

Will the UN fix this?

 

[Leslie]

I liked the story I read today about the mission your boys were on to rescue orphaned pets. That was a nice gig.

*edit*

A U.S. air force transport plane was put to work in Thailand Sunday rescuing several forgotten four-legged tsunami survivors.

A Thai animal welfare group asked the plane’s crew - that had been delivering aid to the country - to pick up 122 orphaned cats and a lone dog from the devastated Phi Phi island and take them to Bangkok where the group will work to find the furry creatures new homes.

Rescuers found the lonely pets taking refuge in ruined homes and others were turned over by police. The animals’ owners are believed to missing or have been presumed dead.

Officials estimate about 5,000 people perished in Thailand after the tsunami hit the country’s shores on Dec. 26. Another 3,500 people remain missing. An official with the Thai Animal Guardians Association said many residents on Phi Phi are Muslim who traditionally prefer cats to dogs, which explains why only one pooch was found.

link