All 16 people including two Dutch soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, a military coalition spokesperson announced on Thursday.
The civilian MI8 helicopter crashed into mountains for unknown reasons near south-eastern Paktia province on Wednesday.
“There were 16 people on board of multiple nationalities. There are no survivors,” United States-led coalition spokesperson Thomas Collins said.
“Twelve of the 16 [bodies] have been recovered. There is no indication yet as to what caused the crash of the aircraft,” he said.
Collins confirmed that two of the dead were Dutch International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) soliders.
Afghan defence ministry spokesperson Mohammad Zahir Azimi said that air force and Afghan ground troops had located the wreckage and secured the area.
“There is no sign of any survivor,” he said.
Azimi could not confirm the nationalities and the number of people on board the plane.
The Dutch victims, a lieutenant colonel and a sergeant, were to observe the security system at a military camp to see whether it was adaptable to a camp that Dutch forces are constructing in the south-eastern province of Uruzgan, the Dutch defence ministry said.
It was not clear who was operating the helicopter.
Isaf, which includes troops from 36 countries, has been operating in northern and western Afghanistan and the capital Kabul and is expanding into southern Afghanistan.
Isaf was formed to assist the Afghan government secure the country after the Taliban regime was toppled in 2001. The force came under Nato command in 2003. – AFP