2 army aviators die after Cobra attack helicopter crash in Gapyeong County

Authorities cordon off a site where an Army AH-1S Cobra helicopter crashed in Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Yonhap

Two soldiers died after a military helicopter that was set to retire crashed in a northern county Monday following a takeoff for training, military officials said.

The AH-1S Cobra helicopter of an Army aviation unit based in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, went down at 11:04 a.m. at a stream located some 800 meters near its base post. The helicopter had taken off for flight training at 9:45 a.m.

The two warrant officers on board — in their 30s and 50s — had been transported to hospitals in a state of cardiac arrest but succumbed to their injuries. No civilian damage has been reported so far.

Authorities said the incident did not involve any fires or explosions and that the chopper was unarmed at the time of the accident.

The accident occurred during flight training aimed at familiarizing emergency landing procedures for crew members.

It remains to be investigated whether the accident occurred as the chopper was returning to the base after completing the training or during the training, an Army official said.

"(The helicopter) was fitted with recording equipment so the recovery of the device will be significantly helpful in determining the cause of the accident," the official added.

The Army has grounded all flights of the AH-1S helicopter and launched a special investigative committee to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, has been briefed on the accident and called for swift follow-up measures, the defense ministry said.

"The defense ministry will mobilize all possible resources to respond to the accident and sternly determine the cause," Ahn wrote in a post on Facebook.

The crashed AH-1S helicopter was deployed in 1991. The Army, which first introduced the model in 1988, had planned to begin retiring its fleet of aging Cobra helicopters in 2028 with an aim to complete the process by 2031.