2005 Spanish helicopter accident in Afghanistan

On 16 August 2005 a helicopter accident occurred 20 km south of the city of Herat, in north-western Afghanistan, in which 17 Spanish soldiers died. This was the second air disaster in which a large number of soldiers from Spain who were in Afghanistan died, after the Yak-42 accident in Turkey.

Identification of the accident

At 11:01 (Afghan time) a Cougar helicopter (registration ET-659), which was taking part in an integration operation of the Spanish Army within the mission of the International Security Assistance Force (abbreviated ISAF, from the English International Security Assistance Force), reported having seen a column of black smoke in a valley south of Herat, which turned out to correspond to the impact of another Cougar (registration ET-657) against the ground. Everyone on board died. Twelve of the dead belonged to the Isabel la Católica Infantry Regiment of the Brilat, based in Pontevedra, and the other 5 came from Seville.

Both helicopters were travelling close together on the mission, but separated because of the difficult terrain of the area. At a certain moment a hill prevented them from seeing each other, and presumably the first helicopter (ET-657) fell to the ground after passing over it, and because of the impact the ammunition began to explode. The pilot of the second helicopter (ET-659), thinking that both units were under attack, tried to land abruptly, causing injuries to the crew as a result of that manoeuvre.

The first units to reach the accident site were from the Air Force's CSAR, with medical support. The bodies of the 17 dead soldiers were transferred late in the day in Army vehicles to the Camp Arena base in Herat. The base was under Spanish command, about 22 km from where the accident occurred. Specialists travelled to the site from Spain to carry out identification tests on the bodies, on a trip led by the then Minister of Defence José Bono.