South Korean navy rescuers retrieve bodies of helicopter crew

By Park Sae-jin Posted : September 28, 2016, 09:16 Updated : September 28, 2016, 09:16

[Yonhap News Photo]


Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of three officers who went missing this week after a multi-purpose helicopter crashed during a joint drill by US and South Korean warships near the inter-Korean maritime border, military authorities said Wednesday.

The Linx helicopter crashed off the eastern port of Yangyang Monday shortly after it took off from an Aegis destroyer just 67 kilometers (36 miles) south of the maritime border with North Korea.

A rescue ship has used its unmanned exploration gear to find the bodies about 1,000 meters below sea level, along with the wrecked helicopter, military authorities said. The first body was recovered Tuesday evening, the second shortly after midnight and the third Wednesday morning.

It was one of South Korea's 20 Linx helicopters built by Britain's Westland Helicopters. A Linx chopper crashed, leaving 10 people dead, in 1993, and another crashed off the south coast in 2010, killing four people.

The accident this week was reported during a rare front-line joint exercise conducted by US and South Korean warships, helicopters, surveillance planes and submarines. TV footages showed a joint search for a submarine, life-fire drills, and a simulated attack on North Korean military facilities.

The operation was aimed at sending a strong message of determination that US and South Korean troops were ready to destroy North Korean nuclear and missile bases.

Cross-border tensions remain high due to a series of North Korean ballistic missile launches, including a submarine-launched ballistic missile on August 24. This month, Pyongyang staged an underground nuclear test and the ground test of a powerful rocket engine.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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