PHILIPPINES: U.S. AND PHILIPPINE MILITARY OFFICIALS HONOUR TEN AMERICAN SERVICEMEN KILLED IN HELICOPTER CRASH OFF SOUTHERN ISLAND OF MINDANAO

Record ID: 647637

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: U.S. AND PHILIPPINE MILITARY OFFICIALS HONOUR TEN AMERICAN SERVICEMEN KILLED IN HELICOPTER CRASH OFF SOUTHERN ISLAND OF MINDANAO
  • Date: 26th February 2002
  • Summary: (W4) CEBU, PHILIPPINES (FEBRUARY 26, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. CU: NIGHT STALKER HELMET WITH NIGHT VISION GOGGLES ON DISPLAY 0.03 2. WIDESHOT/CU'S OF THINGS LEFT BEHIND BY FALLEN U.S. SOLDIERS (3 SHOTS) 0.19 3. CU: SKETCH OF TWO U.S. SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN CRASH 0.28 4. WIDESHOT OF U.S. CHINOOK HELICOPTER 0.36 5. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES, GENERAL DIOMEDIO VILLANUEVA, SAYING "We share in the grief of their families and loved ones. We know no words are enough to lighten their burden today but let me assure you and them that they are indeed heroes, they died standing for a noble cause of making the world free of people who do not believe in the rights of other people, in freedom and peace." 1.12 6. WIDESHOT OF FILIPINO AND US MILITARY OFFICERS STANDING IN PRAYER 1.18 7. VARIOUS OF U.S. AND FILIPINO SOLDIERS SALUTING IN HONOUR OF FALLEN U.S. SOLDIERS (4 SHOTS) 1.50 8. VARIOUS OF U.S. AND FILIPINO SOLDIERS SALUTING TO U.S. AND PHILIPPINE NATIONAL ANTHEM (5 SHOTS) 2.16 9. SV: U.S. SOLDIER CALLS OUT NAMES OF SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN CRASH 2.35 10. VARIOUS OF U.S. SOLDIERS SALUTE WHILE TAPS IS PLAYED, XOLDIERS CLOSE TO TEARS (3 SHOTS) 3.13 11. WS/SLV: U.S. AND FILIPINO SOLDIERS MARCH AROUND CHINOOK HELICOPTER (2 SHOTS) 3.27 (W4) ZAMBOANGA, PHILIPPINES (FEBRUARY 26, 2002) (REUTERS) 12. VARIOUS OF PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT GLORIA ARROYO ARRIVING AT ZAMBOANGA AIRPORT 3.34 13. SV: PRESIDENT ARROYO LOOKS AT TRADITIONAL WEAVING 3.42 14. WIDESHOT OF PRESIDENT ARROYO SPEAKING IN FRONT OF LOCAL OFFICIALS 3.46 15. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Chavacano) ARROYO SAYING "The military will help in the development of the community, the campaign against terrorism will alleviate the lives of these terrorists' victims." 4.09 16. VARIOUS: ANTI-US PROTEST, PEOPLE WITH BANNERS (5 SHOTS) 4.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 13th March 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CEBU AND ZAMBOANGA, PHILIPPINES
  • Country: Philippines
  • Reuters ID: LVAE0SXELBOWUIE8DG5E7C4OQKEM
  • Story Text: U.S. and Philippine military officials have honoured
    the ten American servicemen who died when a U.S. MH-47
    Chinook helicopter crashed in the seas off the main southern
    Philippine island of Mindanao.


    Tragedy marred the Filipino-American joint exercise
    last week when 10 American servicemen died in when a U.S.

    MH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in the seas off the main
    southern island of Mindanao on Friday (February 21).

    In simple ceremonies at Mactan airbase in Cebu, the main
    staging area of U.S troops who are being deployed to southern
    Philippines city of Zamboanga, Philippine military officials
    held a memorial service for the ten U.S. soldiers.

    A team of U.S. investigators was expected to arrive in the
    country some time on Tuesday (February 26) to launch an
    official probe into the crash, whose cause remains a mystery.

    Philippine officials earlier ruled out hostile ground fire
    as the cause.

    The helicopter was returning to base after ferrying U.S.

    troops and supplies to Basilan when it went down before dawn
    on Friday.

    The 10 Americans were the first casualties in the
    Philippine leg of the American campaign against terror.

    Twenty-two Americans died in or near Afghanistan in the
    four-month-old U.S. military operations there.

    The helicopter, one of the United States' giant MH-47
    Chinooks, crashed after ferrying troops to southern Basilan
    island, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas linked by
    the United States to bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.

    Twenty-two Americans have also died in or near Afghanistan
    in a four-month-old U.S. military thrust there, the first
    leg of the U.S. war on terrorism sparked by the September 11
    attacks on New York and Washington.

    In Zamboanga city, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal
    Arroyo landed on an air force base in Zamboanga amid tight
    security.

    About two dozen residents held a protest rally outside the
    base to denounce the military exercises involving about 600
    American troops and thousands of local soldiers.

    The protesters carried signs reading "Bush No. 1
    terrorist" and "Stop War Now."
    Police stood by but there was no violence. Leftist and
    nationalist groups have opposed the exercises,
    which mark the return of American troops almost a decade after
    the United States closed its last military base in its former
    colony.

    But the opposition to the exercise appears to be in the
    minority. Recent polls show up to 80 percent of Filipinos
    support U.S. role in stamping out the Abu Sayyaf.

    The military exercise calls for members of the elite U.S.

    special forces to join Filipino troops on patrol in the
    jungles of Basilan, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold just 15 km (nine
    miles) south of Zamboanga across a narrow strip of water.


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