VietNamNet Bridge – This morning a military helicopter lost communication during a training flight, and nearly two hours later, the wreck was detected on a farm in Binh Chanh District in HCM City.

At about 7 am, a military helicopter coded UH 1 took off from Tan Son Nhat for a training flight, with four people on board. About eight minutes later, it lost contact.

Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, said that four people on the helicopter died in the accident. They are soldiers of Regiment 917, Division 370 of the Air Defense Force.

Mr. Pham Van Tuoi, Binh Chanh district’s Chair, said local forces were deployed to search for the plane immediately after receiving the information. "We discovered the wreck in Pham Van Hai Farm," he said.

Thousands of people, including police officers, soldiers and rescue workers were mobilized to block an area with a radius of 3 km. All roads leading to the site have been strictly protected.

Ambulances brought the bodies of the victims left the scene.

 The area where the helicopter lost communications (red).

Ambulances carry away the bodies of the victims at the scene. Photo: Pham Duy.

At 1pm this afternoon, the bodies of victims were taken from the scene on four ambulances of the military forces.

Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan said the helicopter caught fire and was entirely damaged. "The cause of the crash is still under investigation," Tuan said.

The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (unofficially Huey) is a military helicopter powered by a single turbo-shaft engine, with two-bladed main and tail rotors.

The helicopter was developed by Bell Helicopter to meet the United States Army's requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter in 1952, and it first flew on 20 October 1956.

Ordered into production in March 1960, the UH-1 was the first turbine-powered helicopter to enter production for the United States military, and more than 16,000 have been produced worldwide.

The first combat operation of the UH-1 was in the service of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

The original designation of HU-1 led to the helicopter's nickname of Huey. In September 1962, the designation was changed to UH-1, but "Huey" remained in common use.

Le Ha