U.S. Navy Helicopter Crashes

[Uncle Red]

http://www.wmconnect.com/news/defaul...loc=WM-topnews


U.S. Navy Helicopter Crashes Off Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A U.S. Navy helicopter crashed in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia with three aboard Tuesday, and the Colombian navy joined a search for the missing crew members, U.S. and Colombian officials said.

The SH-60B helicopter was within visual range of the frigate USS DeWert when it went down in the eastern Pacific, said Bill Austin, a spokesman for the U.S. Naval Station at Mayport, Fla., where the troops were based.

``The helicopter didn't transmit any kind of distress call that we know of,'' Austin said, adding that the helicopter was conducting normal operations at the time of the crash.

He said he did not know how far the helicopter was from the ship when it went down, or whether it had just taken off or was returning.


The Colombian navy sent a marine patrol plane to join in the U.S. Navy's search, said Colombian Adm. Jairo Pena, commander of Colombia's Pacific fleet.


``We received the report that it feel to the water inexplicably,'' Pena said, adding that the accident occurred about 5 a.m., but that by Tuesday afternoon, the search still had been fruitless.


He said the DeWert is part of a unit that usually carries out anti-drug missions in international waters. ``We are searching in a zone about 350 miles from the Colombian coast,'' Pena said.


Colombia is the world's largest cocaine producer and a major supplier of heroin to the United States.


The U.S. has been helping the Colombian police and military battle the country's drug gangs and have made several major arrests in recent years. The Pacific coast of Colombia, particularly along the edge of coca-growing Narino state, where the land is penetrated by few roads and bisected by inland waterways, is a popular haven for drug smugglers.


Since 2000, the United States has spent $4 billion for ``Plan Colombia,'' a joint U.S.-Colombia anti-drug program that ended in September. The United States provides the Colombian government with training, equipment and other aid under the project.


-UR