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U.S. Helicopter Crashes in Afghanistan

Aired January 30, 2003 - 10:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More now on the breaking story we are following for you out of Afghanistan, involving a U.S. Army helicopter.
Our Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre is on the story -- Jamie, what do you know?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, it appears that within the hour, within about 45 or 50 minutes ago, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan about 10 to 12 kilometers east of the Bagram Air Base.

Senior CENTCOM officials, or U.S. Central Command officials tell CNN that the helicopter was on routine training mission in an area known as the east training range when when it crashed. There are no indications at this point that this is a result of hostile fire.

There have, however, been casualties, including some number dead. We do not have the number of casualties at this point.

Typically, a Black Hawk helicopter would have four or five people on board, so we don't know how many of those were injured and how many might have been killed.

But we have confirmed there are at least some deaths in this accident, which apparently is not a result of hostile fire, at least from the early reports. Again, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan about 10 to 12 kilometers east of Bagram. No hostile fire indications at this point. Some number of U.S. casualties, some injured, and some -- some fatalities as well.

WHITFIELD: And Jamie, do we know whether this Black Hawk was in the company of other helicopters on this training mission?

MCINTYRE: Well, typically, when the U.S. trains, they do train in more than one helicopter at a time, sometime in pairs, sometimes more. But we don't have any information about how many helicopters were training at the time this accident took place.

WHITFIELD: All right. Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, thank you very much for that update. And of course, we'll be updating you as we learn more about this U.S. Black -- Black Hawk helicopter down at Bagram Air Base, just outside of the Bagram Air Base, as Jamie explained on a training mission there. Ordinarily, about four or five people are on board those aircrafts, but at this point, we don't know exactly how many people, but Jamie's information is, there are casualties, among those injured as well as fatalities. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 30, 2003 - 10:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More now on the breaking story we are following for you out of Afghanistan, involving a U.S. Army helicopter.
Our Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre is on the story -- Jamie, what do you know?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, it appears that within the hour, within about 45 or 50 minutes ago, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan about 10 to 12 kilometers east of the Bagram Air Base.

Senior CENTCOM officials, or U.S. Central Command officials tell CNN that the helicopter was on routine training mission in an area known as the east training range when when it crashed. There are no indications at this point that this is a result of hostile fire.

There have, however, been casualties, including some number dead. We do not have the number of casualties at this point.

Typically, a Black Hawk helicopter would have four or five people on board, so we don't know how many of those were injured and how many might have been killed.

But we have confirmed there are at least some deaths in this accident, which apparently is not a result of hostile fire, at least from the early reports. Again, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan about 10 to 12 kilometers east of Bagram. No hostile fire indications at this point. Some number of U.S. casualties, some injured, and some -- some fatalities as well.

WHITFIELD: And Jamie, do we know whether this Black Hawk was in the company of other helicopters on this training mission?

MCINTYRE: Well, typically, when the U.S. trains, they do train in more than one helicopter at a time, sometime in pairs, sometimes more. But we don't have any information about how many helicopters were training at the time this accident took place.

WHITFIELD: All right. Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, thank you very much for that update. And of course, we'll be updating you as we learn more about this U.S. Black -- Black Hawk helicopter down at Bagram Air Base, just outside of the Bagram Air Base, as Jamie explained on a training mission there. Ordinarily, about four or five people are on board those aircrafts, but at this point, we don't know exactly how many people, but Jamie's information is, there are casualties, among those injured as well as fatalities. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com