UN: Spanish military helicopter crashes in Haiti; fate of 4 aboard unclear

UN: Spanish military chopper crashes in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The United Nations says all four soldiers aboard a Spanish military helicopter that crashed in rugged terrain in Haiti are dead.

The craft crashed Friday in the Fond Verrettes area about 30 miles from Port-au-Prince near Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A Spanish military helicopter crashed in rugged terrain in Haiti on Friday and the fate of the four aboard was not yet known, the United Nations said.

A Chilean helicopter attached to the U.N. peacekeeping mission could not land at the site about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of the Haitian capital because of the rough terrain, U.N. spokesman George Ola-Davies said.

He said the Chileans “could not detect any survivors on the ground simply because they could not land.” Spanish and U.S. military rescue teams arrived at the scene later, Ola-Davies said.

He had no further information on what the aircraft, identified by Spanish media as a Bell AB-212, was doing in the Fond Verrette area near the border with the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

Spain’s Defense Ministry said the chopper was one of four based on a Spanish navy amphibious ship, the Castilla. It offered no further details on the crash.

Spain has about 450 soldiers in Haiti helping with aid and reconstruction after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake that the Haitian government says killed about 230,000 people.

The Spanish troops are not attached to the more than 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission.