Bodies recovered from Vietnam crash

Police are guarding the helicopter wreckage

Emergency teams in Vietnam have recovered the bodies of 16 people who died in a helicopter crash as they searched for American service personnel still listed as missing from the Vietnam War.

Witnesses heard a loud roar from the engine followed by a crashing sound and then an explosion

Local government official

Nine Vietnamese and seven US servicemen died in the crash in Quang Binh province, about 450km (280 miles) south of the capital Hanoi.

The cause of the crash remains unknown, but witnesses say the helicopter made strange noises and movements before crashing into a mountainside in thick mist.

US President George W Bush has issued a written statement in which he said he was deeply saddened by the crash.

The chopper which crashed was a Russian Mi-17 like this one

"The families of the service personnel lost in today's tragic accident know better than most the contribution their loved ones made in bringing closure to scores of families across America," said Mr Bush.

A local Vietnamese official said poor weather or technical failure were emerging as possible causes.

"(Witnesses) first heard the sound of the helicopter engine, then it quietened down a bit," a local government official in the region told Reuters news agency.

Local people say they heard strange noises before the chopper came down

"Then they heard a loud roar from the engine followed by a crashing sound and then an explosion.

"We think this could have been caused by a technical problem... The weather was bad too," he added.

A US army spokesman said those killed were an advance team for 95 investigators who were due to arrive in Vietnam later this month.

The victims' next-of-kin will not be informed until formal identification has taken place. It is thought the bodies will be taken by road from the crash site to Hanoi before the process begins.

The US Pacific Command identified the helicopter as a Russian-made Mi-17.

Nearly 1,500 American servicemen remain classified as missing from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.

Washington funds a multi-million-dollar programme to find them, and at any one time there are many US military personnel working in the Vietnamese provinces as part of the US army's research effort.