A South Korean firefighting chopper crashed in the downtown area of Gwangju, about 330 km south of Seoul, at about 10: 50 a.m. on July 17.
All five people aboard the helicopter, including two pilots, one engineer and two rescue workers were killed while one female student, who was waiting at a bus stop near the site of crash, sustained minor injuries. She was taken to a close-by hospital for treatment.
The helicopter belonged to the fire headquarters in the east Gangwon Province. The accident happened when it was coming back from a search operation for the missing people of the Sewol ferry which sank off the southwest coast on April 16. Around 300 people, mostly high school students were killed in the disaster while 11 are still missing.
The helicopter caught fire after falling in the sidewalks of a road. Witnesses said it spinned around at a low altitude as the pilot was apparently looking for a less crowded place.
The exact cause of the crash is being investigated.
Peruvian Airlines flight P9-331 suffered the collapse of both main gear struts during landing at El Alto International Airport, Bolivia, on November 22nd.
