16 killed in Afghanistan copter crash
(CNN) -- Sixteen people were killed when a coalition helicopter traveling in "severe weather" crashed in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said.
Eighteen people, including crew and passengers, were listed on the flight manifest. Two people remain unaccounted for.
A CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed near Ghazni, roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Kabul on Wednesday.
"The chopper was one of two Chinooks returning to Bagram Air Field from a routine mission in southern Afghanistan. The second helicopter arrived safely at Bagram Air Field," the military said in a news release.
The military said recovery operations have ended for the night because of darkness and weather conditions.
The names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of relatives.
The crash was the deadliest for the military in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began, The Associated Press reported.
In March 2002, seven Americans were killed when two U.S. helicopters came under heavy fire during the largest allied offensive of the war.
In March 2003, six Air Force rescue team members were killed in a helicopter accident while on the way to help two injured Afghan children. In November 2003, five U.S. troops died in a helicopter crash.
Abdul Rahman Sarjang, the chief of police in Ghazni, told the AP that the crash occurred in the flat desert near a brick factory about five kilometers (three miles) outside the city. The helicopter caught fire, he said.
"We collected nine bodies," Sarjang told the AP by mobile telephone. "They were all wearing American uniforms and they were all dead."
Skies were cloudy with strong winds at the time, Sarjang told the AP.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
