ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SHAAR YESHUV, ISRAEL
SOURCE: Associated Press
Two transport helicopters shuttling elite troops to Lebanon collided Tuesday in fog and rain and crashed in flames into a rural settlement, killing all 73 soldiers aboard. It was Israel's worst military air disaster.
About 7 p.m., a bright, white burst of light illuminated the night sky five miles south of the Lebanese border. One of the two CH-53 Sikorsky helicopters smashed into an empty guest house, which exploded into flames.
``There was a huge explosion,'' witness Rachel Fromovitz told The Associated Press. ``They crashed right above us, and the helicopters came down in a fiery blaze.''
The accident appeared likely to raise new questions about Israel's costly involvement in Lebanon - as well as the decision to send in the troops by helicopters despite the stormy weather. Officials said the helicopters were ferrying soldiers to Lebanon as part of a troop rotation.
Smoke poured from one helicopter as it went down, Yoav Frenkel told Army Radio. ``The second helicopter lit up in the air as it fell,'' he said.
Despite extensive damage in Shaar Yeshuv, a communal settlement in the eastern Galilee, there were no known injuries to anyone on the ground.
Lt. Gen. Amnon Shahak said the crash killed 65 troops serving in south Lebanon and eight air force crew members.
Dalia Golan, a nurse who lives near the crash, rushed to try to help any survivors, but heard only ``very, very weak cries'' from the empty building that one of the helicopters hit.
``They must have been the last cries of the wounded who were trapped inside,'' she told Israel TV. ``I bent down over the first of the victims whom I saw ... but there was no pulse, and everything was torn apart.''
Hours later, amid a light snowfall, workers in a crane were still trying to fish out pieces of helicopter wreckage from the rubble of the destroyed house. Soldiers searched the site looking for more bodies and trying to dismantle the scattered ammunition.
Convoys carried the dead to a nearby army base for identification. Israel's Channel Two television showed pictures of bodies being carried away from the crash.
``This is a grave disaster, and a heavy heart goes out to the families of the victims,'' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ``The entire nation cries today for the loss of our young fighters.''
Netanyahu called off a trip to meet with Jordan's King Hussein, scheduled for today, after receiving word of the crash. He has reportedly cleared his schedule for the next several days, which would also postpone a planned meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday.
Arafat and Hussein both conveyed their condolences to Netanyahu, as did President Clinton in Washington. The Knesset planned a special session today to honor the dead.
Officials said an inquiry into the cause of the accident would begin immediately.
``As far as we know, the weather was not the problem,'' said Brig. Gen. Oded Ben-Ami, the military spokesman.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by AP. color. KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB