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Pentagon: Two killed in Pakistan crash
10/20/2001
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A U.S. helicopter supporting a commando raid in Afghanistan
crashed Friday in neighboring Pakistan, killing two people in the first
combat-related American deaths of the military campaign. A brief Pentagon statement said the helicopter crash was an accident but
provided no details. The two military personnel who were killed were not
immediately identified so their families could be notified first. The helicopter was in the air Friday night to provide rescue assistance, if
needed, during a raid inside southern Afghanistan by about 100 special
operations forces, including Army Rangers, said a defense official who spoke on
condition of anonymity. The helicopter did not enter Afghanistan airspace, the official said.
The deaths bring to three the number of people killed since the U.S. military
campaign against the al-Qaida terror network and the ruling Taliban militia
began Oct. 7. Master Sgt. Evander Andrews, of Solon, Maine, assigned to the 366
Civil Engineer Squadron, was killed last week in a forklift accident while
building an air strip in Qatar, a peninsula in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military began moving troops and helicopters into two Pakistan air
bases on Oct. 12, setting up operations near the Afghan border to launch
commando raids or rescue missions. A month after the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, Pakistan acknowledged for the first time Oct. 11 that American
military aircraft had landed inside its borders and were using at least two air
bases.