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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Tuesday, 19.03.2024, 03:30

No threat to life of Lithuanian officer injured in helicopter accident in Afghanistan

BC, Vilnius, 12.10.2015.Print version

The Lithuanian officer injured in the crash of a Puma HC1 helicopter of coalition forces while it was landing in the territory of NATO Operation Resolute Support base in Kabul on 11 October is in stable condition and his injuries are not life threatening. It has been reported that the officer sustained multiple contusions and a shoulder injury, Lithuania's Ministry of National Defence said.

 

More exhaustive data of medical examination will be provided later. Soldiers of the National Support Element reported from the hospital of Bahram where the injured officer is treated that he could speak and suffered no bone fractures.

 

Chief of the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Brigadier General Vilmantas Tamosaitis says that the injured Lithuanian, after a thorough medical examination at the hospital of Bahram, most probably will be transferred to Europe for further treatment in a few days. The officer is conscious and can speak.

 

The identity of the injured officer is not revealed, however, according to Tamosaitis, his mission in Afghanistan started in July and would have lasted until January. "It is likely that he will return to Lithuania earlier," said the chief the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

 

According to preliminary data, the helicopter went down when it struck a tethered surveillance balloon over the base of NATO Operation Resolute Support.

 

Five military personnel were killed and four more injured in the crash.

 

Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom reported the death of two soldiers of the Royal Air Force. No information concerning the remaining three casualties is known so far.

 

Currently, there are roughly 20 Lithuanian military personnel serving in Afghanistan as part of Operation Resolute Support aimed at training and mentoring the Afghan National Security Forces. The majority of them are staff officers, logistical support and communications specialists serving in Kabul, Herat and Kandahar.





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