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Helicopter crash

February 4, 2010

Investigators are looking into the cause of a US military helicopter crash in Germany that left at least three people dead. The aircraft came down in woodland close to a motorway junction, with no survivors.

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A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter takes off at Rinas Airport in Tirana, Albania
The Black Hawk was not far from its destinationImage: AP

US officials are investigating the scene after a helicopter came down in Germany's Hesse region on Wednesday evening, killing three people.

About 100 German rescuers attended the site in a forest close to a motorway junction between the German cities of Darmstadt and Mannheim.

A wide area around the crash site was cordoned off and declared a restricted area.

Three people had been on board the aircraft, a UH-60 Black Hawk transport helicopter, but none survived.

Cause of crash not clear

A US Army spokesman said it was not clear what had caused the crash. It had been raining at the time of the incident, although it has not been revealed if weather might have contributed.

The helicopter had been travelling north from Mannheim to the US Coleman Barracks airfield and came down 9km (5.6 miles) from its destination.

An aircraft of the same type crashed in the countryside outside Treviso, in the uninhabited area of St. Lucia di Piave, northern Italy, in November 2007.

rc/AFP/AP/dpa
Editor: Rob Turner