Thursday, June 17, 2010

Helicopter crash kills four air-force personnel

 
Thursday, 17 June 2010 17:36 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A military helicopter crash during a training exercise in Shan State yesterday killed four air-force personnel including three officers and injured one, air force sources said.

The MI-2 helicopter hit a mountain in bad weather at around noon near Pindaya Township, Shan State, killing Major Kyaw Kyaw Win, two captains and a corporal. A badly injured lieutenant was taken to Aungpan Hospital, a source in the Burmese Air Force told Mizzima.

Kyaw Kyaw Win from Namsan Air Base was a holding a training exercise with another aircraft out of the air force helicopter school at Meikhtila when he encountered bad weather, a policeman from a nearby township said.

“The helicopter, which crashed near Pindaya, flew from Meikhtila based to Namsan on June 15. On the next day … it was flying with another helicopter when it crashed”, another air force source said.

Burma’s military junta bought 22 Mil Mi-2 “Hoplite” helicopters from Poland between 1990 and 1992, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute arms-transfers database.

The Burmese Air Force has experienced several such mishaps in the last few years. IN In January, an F-7M jet fighter – a Chinese-built version of the Russian Mig-21 – out of Mingaladon Air Base, crashed at Rangoon International Airport in Mingaladon Township, killing its pilot.