Rescue workers searched Friday for the body of a U.S. serviceman after the military helicopter he was in crashed and exploded in northern Honduras, killing all five American crewmen.
Only four bodies were recovered after Thursday's crash, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Charles Barclay. The identities of the victims were withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.Barclay said the CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed at 1 p.m. (noon MST) near the Caribbean port of La Ceiba, 235 miles north of Tegucigalpa. He said the aircraft was almost completely destroyed.
The helicopter was based at Palmerola Air Base, 48 miles north of the capital, Barclay said. Officials at Palmerola refused comment.
U.S. military authorities were investigating the cause of the crash, Barclay said. A search team of Honduran and U.S. military personnel also were at the site "to look for the other body," Barclay said.
It was the second fatal crash this year of a twin-rotor Boeing Chinook. On Feb. 25, an Army Chinook crashed in a cow pasture near Chico, Texas, killing 10 soldiers and seriously burning eight.
Since April 1985, there have been eight fatal accidents involving Chinook helicopters.
Barclay said the Chinook had left Palmerola earlier Thursday to run a supply mission in joint U.S.-Honduran military exercises.
At least 30 American troops in Honduras have been killed or wounded since the United States began a series of maneuvers here in 1982.
About 1,500 American troops are in Honduras, including 1,100 soldiers permanently stationed at Palmerola.