French military helicopter crashes near Gabon

[Eddie]

source: http://www.france24.com/en/20090118-ten ... ter-crash-

French soldiers missing in helicopter crash
Sunday 18 January 2009

One soldier has died and six are still missing after a French army helicopter crashed in the sea off the coast of Gabon during a bilateral military exercise on Saturday.

AFP - Three survivors were found after the crash of a French military helicopter off Gabon, with one soldier dead and six still missing, the armed forces headquarters in Paris said early Sunday. "The provisional toll is one dead, one seriously injured, one lightly injured, one who survived unhurt and six missing," Lt.-Col. Francois-Marie Gougeon of the general staff told AFP. Ten French soldiers, including four crew members, were earlier reported missing after the helicopter crashed into the sea Saturday during a joint exercise off the west African nation of Gabon.
The helicopter went down off Nyonie, a small town situated between the capital Libreville and the town of Port-Gentil further south, Lt.-Col. Pascal Carpentier said in Libreville. It crashed shortly after taking off from the landing craft transporter La Foudre, cruising 50 kilometres (30 miles) off the Gabonese coast, Gougeon said.

for Dutch story: http://www.nu.nl/algemeen/1901410/frans ... n-zee.html

[witje]

It was an EC725 Cougar

[stanak]

not exactly, it was an AS532UL Cougar, S/N in this article.