Six Ukrainians killed as helicopter downed in south Afghanistan
13:5715/07/2009 CHISINAU, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Six Ukrainian contract workers died when their helicopter was shot down in south Afghanistan, the helicopter owner said on Wednesday.
Leonid Tokorenko, the director of the Moldovan air charter company Pecotox-Airi, said the Mi-26 helicopter was carrying humanitarian aid to people in the Sangin district in the volatile Helmand province.
"The aircraft was shot from a grenade launcher as it hovered to drop its cargo," he said, adding that it was delivering food and water.
Tokorenko said all six crew members had died.
Some media sources citing local officials reported that an Afghan child on the ground had also died in the crash.
The Taliban are reported to have claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter.
Two U.S. marines were also killed in Helmand province, where some 4,000 U.S. troops are conducting their biggest offensive against the Taliban since the 2001 NATO invasion of the Central Asian state.
Independent web portal icasualties.org reported that the latest casualties had brought the total deaths of foreign troops in Afghanistan to 43 so far this month the highest since August last year.
Thousands lined the streets of Wootten Bassett in south England on Tuesday to pay their respects to eight British soldiers who were killed over a 24-hour period in south Afghanistan.
The deaths prompted the Ministry of Defense to announce a further 150 troops were to be deployed from a base in Cyprus to Afghanistan.
And in western Afghanistan Italy's Defense Ministry reported that one soldier had been killed in a roadside bomb on Tuesday.
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