18 U.S. Troops Killed in Helicopter Crash

Bad news indeed.

At least 18 American soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan yesterday, the biggest single loss of US life since Operation Enduring Freedom began in autumn 2001.

The army Chinook came down in bad weather in featureless desert near the south-eastern city of Ghazni.

Afghan officials said the bodies were all in US military uniform. The army said last night that 18 people, including crew members and passengers, were listed on the flight manifest and that two remained unaccounted for.

Lieutenant Cindy Moore said that the Chinook was on a routine flight from the troubled south-east of the country to the main US airbase at Bagram, north of Kabul.

A second Chinook on the mission arrived unscathed.

Ghazni’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Sarjang, said that the weather at the time of the crash was cloudy with strong winds. Witnesses said one of the helicopter’s two sets of rotor blades appeared to be damaged before it hit the ground.

There were no reports or indications of ground fire and no claim of responsibility from any militant organisation.

Americas’s previous highest single loss of life was when eight soldiers died in an arms dump explosion in January last year.

My gratitude to these soldiers for their sacrifices in a theater that, barring one election, only seems to receive attention in times of trouble. My sorrow and best wishes to the families for their losses.

UPDATE, 7 APR 05: Per CNN, of the 18 aboard, 13 soldiers and 3 American contractors are confirmed killed. 2 soldiers are currently classified as missing.