Four more personnel were injured and immediately taken to a military hospital after the Russian-made Mi-171 came down at 7:53 am in Thach Hoa commune, Thach That district, about 40 kilometres to the west of central Hanoi.
Lt General Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the Vietnamese People’s Army, said the helicopter, which had 21 people on board, was on a parachute training mission near the Hoa Lac airfield.
The cause of the crash was under investigation but Tuan said the helicopter’s engine was on fire when it crashed. According to eyewitness accounts, the pilot was trying to divert the helicopter to a field so that it would not come down in a residential area.
