2 killed in tourism helicopter crash in Vietnam

Search for 3 missing people currently underway after Bell-505 helicopter carrying 4 tourists crashed in northeast Ha Long Bay

By Anadolu Staff

ANKARA (AA) – A helicopter carrying tourists has crashed in the Ha Long Bay area of northeast Vietnam, killing at least two people and leaving three others missing, the country's Ministry of Defense said.

The ministry said in a statement issued late Wednesday that all the four tourists onboard were Vietnamese nationals.

The Bell-505 helicopter took off from Tuan Chau Island in Quang Ninh Province at 4:56 p.m. local time (0956GMT), but lost contact with air traffic control at 5:15 p.m. (1015GMT) on Wednesday.

The helicopter owned by the Northern Viet Nam Helicopter Company was being piloted by a colonel.

Rescuers have so fat found two bodies and debris believed to be from the helicopter at the edge of the shore, the local daily Viet Nam News reported.

The search for the three missing people is currently underway.

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