Task force chief dies in air crash
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/15Oct2005_news03.php
Phrae _ The commander of the Pha Muang task force, his close aide and two pilots were confirmed dead yesterday after the army helicopter carrying them disappeared over Wang Chin district in heavy rain on Thursday. It was found crashed in a national park yesterday. Third Army commander Lt-Gen Saphrang Kallayanamitr confirmed that the wreckage of the missing helicopter and the bodies of Maj-Gen Pairat Thongjattu, the task force chief, his aide Maj Wisit Worawitwattana and two pilots, Capt Thonglor Nakphu and Capt Komin Thong-uthai, were found at Mae Kerng waterfall in Wiang Kosai national park.
Lt-Gen Saphrang said the helicopter crashed into the cliff at Mae Kerng waterfall due to poor visibility.
An army search plane spotted parts of the helicopter scattered over a banana forest between Mae Kerng Noi and Mae Kerng Luang waterfalls, about 2km south of the national park office, at 1.30pm yesterday after 20 hours of searching.
The search team alerted the Third Army commander who then sent more rescuers to travel on foot to help retrieve the bodies of the victims.
It took more than two hours for the rescuers to reach the crash site, which was near the spot where the sound of the helicopter was last heard by villagers on Thursday.
The bodies of the four officers were later brought out of the deep forest by the rescuers on foot because the area was not large enough for a helicopter landing and the weather was bad.
The Jet Ranger helicopter with the four officers on board left Phitsanulok about 3pm on Thursday. It contacted the air traffic control unit in Lampang and was seen for the last time on the radar screen at 5.50pm.
It then went missing over the national park. Early communication errors led to the task force misunderstanding that the damaged helicopter was found in the park that night, and that the pilots were slightly injured and Maj-Gen Pairat was safe.