Foul play investigated by Pentagon
Title
Foul play investigated by Pentagon
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news48.doc
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0
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The U.S. Defense Department is considering foul play as a possible cause of the crash in the Philippines that killed 10 soldiers
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The U.S. Defense Department is not ruling out foul play in last week's crash of a special operations helicopter taking part in the joint RP-US military exercises in Mindanao, the Phillipines. The crash, off Negros Oriental, killed all ten soldiers on board.
Foul play was being eyed as a possible cause, in the light of reports that an explosion accompanied the crash of the Chinook MH-47E helicopter, though it is still unclear if the blast occurred while the aircraft was still airborne or upon hitting the waters off Apo Island.
"There was an explosion of some sort," Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said. "What they didn't know as of yesterday [Feb. 26] was whether it was the result of hitting the water."
"Since investigation was still underway, we just can't tell whether there was foul play," Clarke stressed.
She added that misperceptions were not uncommon in disasters. A team of safety experts arrived Tuesday in Cebu City to conduct a probe. U.S. military officials initially ruled out hostile fire as principal cause of the crash.
Witnesses have told the authorities they saw the helicopter plunge to the water in flames.
The Chinook went down into the shark-infested Bohol Strait off Zamboangita town in Negros Oriental while on a night flight from Basilian Island in Mindanao to Cebu City.
The bodies of three of the ten U.S. servicemen aboard were recovered by local fishermen who immediately responded to the accident. The remaining seven were still missing and given up for dead.
The ill-fated chopper was flying in tandem with a second Chinook MH-47E when it went down some 30 minutes before its scheduled arrival at Mactan Airbase in Cebu.
Tragedy struck just after the chopper shuttled between Zamboanga City and Basilian, ferrying U.S. troops and military equipment in preparation for the joint maneuvers viewed as the second front of Washington's global war on terror after Afghanistan.
The U.S. special forces are about to complete an observation phase and will soon begin drawing up training courses for their Filipino counterparts.
Foul play was being eyed as a possible cause, in the light of reports that an explosion accompanied the crash of the Chinook MH-47E helicopter, though it is still unclear if the blast occurred while the aircraft was still airborne or upon hitting the waters off Apo Island.
"There was an explosion of some sort," Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said. "What they didn't know as of yesterday [Feb. 26] was whether it was the result of hitting the water."
"Since investigation was still underway, we just can't tell whether there was foul play," Clarke stressed.
She added that misperceptions were not uncommon in disasters. A team of safety experts arrived Tuesday in Cebu City to conduct a probe. U.S. military officials initially ruled out hostile fire as principal cause of the crash.
Witnesses have told the authorities they saw the helicopter plunge to the water in flames.
The Chinook went down into the shark-infested Bohol Strait off Zamboangita town in Negros Oriental while on a night flight from Basilian Island in Mindanao to Cebu City.
The bodies of three of the ten U.S. servicemen aboard were recovered by local fishermen who immediately responded to the accident. The remaining seven were still missing and given up for dead.
The ill-fated chopper was flying in tandem with a second Chinook MH-47E when it went down some 30 minutes before its scheduled arrival at Mactan Airbase in Cebu.
Tragedy struck just after the chopper shuttled between Zamboanga City and Basilian, ferrying U.S. troops and military equipment in preparation for the joint maneuvers viewed as the second front of Washington's global war on terror after Afghanistan.
The U.S. special forces are about to complete an observation phase and will soon begin drawing up training courses for their Filipino counterparts.
Vtmbh article date
2002-03-07
Vtmbh article edition
11
Vtmbh article hit count
56
Vtmbh article keywords
Vtmbh article line breaks
1
Vtmbh article original language
English
Vtmbh article publication
Filipino Reporter
Vtmbh article section
news
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Vtmbh article title
Foul play investigated by Pentagon
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Source
born-digital
Media Type
article
Original Name
The U.S. Defense Department is considering foul play as a possible cause of the crash in the Philipp
Created by Author
yes
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no
Date Entered
2002-03-07
Collection
Citation
“Foul play investigated by Pentagon,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed October 1, 2026, https://911.dev.chnm.gmu.edu/items/1665/.