PHETCHABURI, July 17 — Five bodies of military officers killed in a military helicopter crashed in Phetchaburi’s Kaeng Krachan National Park were located, but authorities were unable to move the charred bodies out of the crash site 500 metres from Thai-Myanmar border line.
Their helicopter crashed in foul weather during a mission to airlift troops on a patrol mission to combat the forest encroachment and illegal logging in the national park.
The seven soldiers who were stranded in the park had walked to the crash site after the helicopter, unable to pick them up, eventually crashed.
The helicopter wreckage was completely damaged and all five crew members and passengers were killed.
The inclement weather did not allow for another helicopter to land near the site to retrieve bodies out of the forest.
A forest protection unit from Kaeng Krachan National Park would be dispatched by helicopter to the nearest possible area and would travel by foot to the site to recover the bodies. The mission was expected to take at least one day.
The crashed helicopter was from Thap Phraya Sua Military Camp in Ratchaburi’s Suan Phung district.
The crash victims were identified as Maj Kitisak Chin-iam, the first pilot; Lt Pratchaya Nualsri, the second pilot; Maj Kitiphoom Ekkaphan, a military officer attached to the Thap Phraya Suea Military Camp; and two mechanics, SM 1 Rangsan Cholsaibua and SM1 Narongdej Pongnumkul.
