Helicopter crashes in southern Vietnam during training session

A search and rescue mission is under way for the two pilot trainees and their teacher.

A Vietnamese helicopter is believed to have crashed on Tuesday morning, shortly after it took off in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau for a training session.

Nguyen Nhat, deputy transport minister, told VnExpress that the crash of the EC130 happened at around 8:30 a.m. The crash site is believed to be Dinh Mountain in Tan Thanh District, around 80 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City.

A search and rescue mission is under way for the two pilot trainees and their teacher.

The Eurocopter EC130 is a single engine light helicopter orginally launched and produced by the Eurocopter Group, now Airbus Helicopters.

Núi Dinh cách TP HCM 80 km. Photo from VNE

The model has various safety features, including flight data recorders and crash-worthy seats.

The safety record of Vietnam's civilian aviation sector is generally good, but over the past years there have been several incidents involving military aircraft.

In late August, a Czechoslovakia-era jet training aircraft crashed into a paddy field on the fringes of the central province of Phu Yen, killing one pilot and critically injuring one passer-by on the ground.

Last June, Vietnam's Air Defense suffered a double loss in one week. On June 14, an Su-30MK2 Vietnamese fighter crashed off the central province of Nghe An. Only one of the two pilots made it out alive. Two days later, a CASA-212-40 with nine people on board went missing while searching for the Su-30MK2.

In January 2015, four people were killed when a Vietnamese military helicopter, a UH-1 and known as a Huey, crashed minutes after it set off from Ho Chi Minh City, an army official told AFP.

In July 2014, 19 people died and two others were injured when a Russian-made Mi-171 chopper crashed in Hanoi during a training exercise.

In 2008, five Vietnamese air force officers were killed when their twin-engine light transport aircraft crashed on the outskirts of Hanoi, according to AFP.

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