Thursday, January 27 2005 10:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hanoi: Sixteen Vietnamese soldiers, including two generals, have been killed in a helicopter crash in central Vietnam, the military said today (Jan 27, 2005).

The Russian-made helicopter "exploded" five minutes after take-off from the Island of Con Co in the central province of Quang Binh yesterday (Jan 26, 2005), said a military spokesman.

He said that the cause of the mid-afternoon crash some 300 kilometres south of the capital Hanoi remained unknown.

The spokesman identified the dead as 12 officers, a military journalist with the rank of captain and the three pilots.

One of the generals was the commander of Vietnam's military zone number four based in the central province of Nghe An. Among the other dead officers were five colonels, three lieutenant-colonels and two majors.

"The bodies of six of the victims had been recovered by late yesterday," said the spokesman, adding that a formal investigation had been opened into the cause of the crash.