Five people were killed and one injured when a South Korean military helicopter crashed at a marine base in the country’s southeast, the defense ministry said.
The helicopter crashed and caught fire during a test flight after repairs at the base in the port city of Pohang, on Tuesday, July 17, the ministry said in a statement.
“Five of the six crew members on board were killed and the remaining one has been taken to hospital due to injury,” it said.
The helicopter was a domestically made model known as the MUH-1 or Marineon, Yonhap news agency said.
The crash happened around 4:45 p.m. (0745 GMT) local time when the helicopter fell from a height of about 10 meters (33 feet) at the landing strip of a marine base in Pohang, the Republic of Korea Marine Corps said.
The ministry said an investigation into the cause would be launched but did not specify whether all victims were soldiers.
The Republic of Korea Marine Corps received its first two MUH-1 helicopters in January. The amphibious support MUH-1, a variant of the KUH-1 Surion light utility helicopter, was developed by Korean Aerospace Industries as part of a KRW800 billion ($744 million) program announced in April 2013.
KAI is contracted to deliver 30 of the Marineons to the Marine Corps.
With reporting from AFP
