Pubdate: Sat, 03 Aug 2002
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Reuters Limited

U.S.-DONATED COLOMBIAN HELICOPTER CRASHES, SIX DEAD

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - A Colombian military UH1N helicopter, donated 
by the United States for the war on drugs, crashed into 
guerrilla-controlled mountains on Friday, killing six of the seven crew 
members on board, the army said.

Gen. Luis Favio Garcia blamed the crash on "adverse meteorological 
conditions," but offered no details.

The helicopter was in route to pick up wounded troops when it crashed about 
250 miles (400 km) southeast of the capital Bogota, near the town of 
Solita, in Caqueta province.

The area is a stronghold of Latin America's largest guerrilla army, the 
17,000-member Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The army 
clashed with a rebel fighters on Thursday near the crash site. FARC is 
fighting a 38-year-old guerrilla war, fueled in part by money from the 
cocaine trade, which claims 3,500 lives a year.

Rescue workers found one soldier alive at the crash site, and said he had 
been transferred to a nearby hospital but would not reveal details on his 
condition.
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