NAIROBI (Reuters) - U.S. and allied forces searched on Saturday for 10 crew members still missing a day after two Marine Corps helicopters crashed off the coast of Djibouti, the hub of U.S. counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa.
"We always have hope of finding survivors," U.S. military spokeswoman Major S.A. Romano told Reuters by phone from the tiny Red Sea state.
Two crew members rescued by the Djiboutian military on Friday were in a stable condition, said a statement from Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, the U.S. operation set up in Djibouti in 2002.
Italian, French, British forces were also taking part in the search and rescue operation, Romano said.
The statement said the cause of the crash was not yet known, but also referred to it as an accident.
CNN television news, quoting U.S. officials, earlier said there was no reason to believe hostile fire was involved.
"The weather at the time of the mishap was reported to be partly cloudy ... with light to variable winds and unlimited visibility," the military statement said.
The helicopters were on a two-hour training mission in northern Djibouti at the time of the crash. Each of the CH53 marine transport helicopters was carrying six crew members.
Since December 2002, the former French colony has allowed U.S. troops to use it as a base from which to hunt militants in Djibouti itself and in Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Yemen.
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