Republished October 18, 2016 - 5:22 AM
Original Publication Date October 17, 2016 - 11:45 PM
HANOI, Vietnam - A Vietnamese military helicopter with three people on board went missing during a training flight Tuesday, an official and state media said, in the latest in a series of incidents involving military aircraft.
Online newspaper Dan Tri said the Eurocopter EC 130, a light training helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters, lost contact 15 minutes into the flight and was believed to have crashed into a mountain 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.
It said a pilot and two trainees were in the helicopter.
A provincial border guard said smoke was spotted at the suspected crash site, but rescuers have not been able to reach the spot.
Three crashes involving military planes that killed 11 people have been reported over past four months.
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This story has been corrected to show that the three previous crashes occurred over the past four months, not two months.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016