Bad weather hampers helicopter crash recovery
By The Nation
Published on July 18, 2011
The charred bodies of all five personnel found in the helicopter that crashed and burned near the Burmese border on Saturday cannot be retrieved yet because of continuing bad weather conditions, the Army said yesterday.
One body was stuck inside the UH1H's passenger cabin that smashed into the ridge of the Tanaosri range while four bodies were in the pilot compartment that fell down the slope into Burmese territory.
Major Kitiphoom Ekkaphan, chief of operations, has been publicly identified but not the four crewmembers.
No news reports have been made about any radio communications with a ground unit over technical problems before the chopper lost contact, but visibility was in general poor because of the heavy rain and thick fog in the area, Army sources said.
Search and recovery operations were conducted by four helicopters including two newer UH06 Black Hawks with the assistance of forest rangers and Border Patrol police.
The Ninth Army Division, to which the UH1H helicopter was assigned, also dispatched ground search parties.
The doomed aircraft was providing logistical support and supplies to a military task force cracking down on forest encroachment, including farming by hilltribe people in protected areas.
The crash site was deep in the dense jungle between Phetchaburi and Ratchaburi, which is the source of Phetchaburi River.
Torrential downpours had earlier forced a halt to the sorties after a group of soldiers and media members got lost and had to be rescued last week.