10 Filipinos among Afghan chopper dead: government
(AFP) – 16 hours ago

MANILA — Ten Philippine civilian workers were among 16 people killed in a weekend helicopter crash at a military base in southern Afghanistan, Philippine officials said on Tuesday.

Foreign ministry official Esteban Conejos said a consular official had been dispatched from the Philippine embassy in Pakistan to inquire about the incident.

The department was also checking how the Filipinos got into Afghanistan despite a Philippine government ban on its nationals working in the war-torn country.

The civilian-contracted helicopter crashed on Sunday on take-off from Kandahar Airfield, part of the biggest US military base in southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said earlier.

The helicopter was not shot down by insurgents, ISAF said.

ISAF gave no details on the nationalities of the casualties or the contracting company. Russian news agencies reported the aircraft was an Mi-8 helicopter belonging to Russian company Vertikal-1.

About 1,000 Filipinos worked and lived in Afghanistan before Manila banned its nationals from working there in the wake of the 2001 US-led invasion.

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