Five feared dead in helicopter crash in northern Vietnam
VOV.VN - Five people have been feared dead after their helicopter crashed in the waters between Hai Phong city and Quang Ninh province in northern Vietnam, on April 5.
Bell-505 owned by the Northern Vietnam Helicopter Company took off at 16:56 and lost contact at 17:15, reported The Ministry of National Defence’s Department of Information and Training.
The helicopter piloted by a colonel was carrying four Vietnamese tourists on a sightseeing tour of Ha Long Bay from above.
Hearing about the news, the Northern Vietnam Helicopter Company immediately coordinated with the local border guard and military forces to urgently deploy search and rescue operations.
At 19:18, relevant forces recovered two bodies and some debris believed to be from the helicopter in the sea about 3 km off Gia Luan commune, Cat Hai district of Hai Phong City.
Several hours later, they retrieved the body of the pilot, Colonel Chu Quang Minh, from the nearby waters.
Currently, rescue workers are actively searching for the other missing people.
Bell 505s developed by Bell Helicopter of the US have been delivered to many police and firefighters agencies in the US, as well to air, navy and coast guard forces in a number of countries.
The Vietnam Helicopter Corporation that manages the Northern Vietnam Helicopter Company received two Bell 505s in May 2019 which have been since used for sightseeing tours over Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province.