Remains of five U.S. soldiers recovered

The remains of five American soldiers were recovered yesterday by a U.S. salvage crew from the undersea wreckage of a U.S. Army MH-47 Chinook helicopter more than a month after it crashed at sea near Negros Oriental province in central Philippines, officials said yesterday.

Eight Army and two Air Force soldiers were killed in the February 22 crash the cause of which is yet to be determined by U.S. authorities.

The cargo helicopter plunged into the sea while returning to a Philippine Air Force base in Cebu after ferrying material to Basilan, some 250km away.

The remains of the five, still unidentified, brings to seven the number of bodies recovered so far. Last month, fishermen in Negros Oriental recovered three bodies immediately after the dawn crash.

The crash victims belong to elite units of the U.S. military taking part in joint exercises with Filipino troops in southern Philippines.

The helicopter, on the other hand, was an adaptation of the U.S. Army CH-47 workhorse especially configured for night time flying.

Authorities are still unable to determine the real cause of the crash and the closest explanation so far from American officials in the Philippines is that the mishap was caused either by pilot error or systems failure as they immediately ruled out the possibility of sabotage.

The cable news channel ANC reported the bodies were recovered on Friday at a depth of 1,200 feet, about five nautical miles off Zamboangauita Island, east of Negros by U.S. military personnel aboard the Jan Steen, a Dutch-owned search and recovery ship based in Singapore.

But Col Michael Manquiquis, spokesman of the armed forces' Central Command, said: "The Philippine Navy has confirmed the recovery of the four bodies. We do not have other details because we are only assisting in the operation. The U.S. military and the Southern Command are authorised to release details and information about the search and recovery efforts."