The United Nations said today it did not expect to find any survivors after one of its helicopters plunged into the sea off Sierra Leone with seven people aboard.
Four Ukrainian crew members, two Zambian army colonels and a Bulgarian civilian volunteer working with the United Nations were on the aircraft when it crashed, the peacekeeping force in the West African country said in a statement.
Mission spokeswoman Ms Margaret Novicki said three bodies had been pulled from the Atlantic Ocean after the crash yesterday evening and the search was continuing for the other four.
The helicopter had been on its way from Freetown to Lungi, where it was due to pick up visiting Zambian armed forces commander Lieutenant-General Geojago Musengule, whose country has sent an 800-strong contingent to the mission.
Ms Novicki said the helicopter, a Ukrainian MI-8, took off from mission headquarters in the capital Freetown at around 7.40 p.m. Irish time yesterday.
"It crashed within about five minutes 500 metres north of Man of War Bay, very close to our headquarters," Ms Novicki said.
"We located three bodies last night," she added. UN helicopters had provided illumination for the night-time search, carried out using fast boats belonging to Sierra Leone's British-trained army and the US embassy.
"The recovery effort is ongoing this morning," she said, adding that finding any survivors was unlikely.