Aid helicopter crashes in Iraq's Sinjar mountains

ERBIL, Iraq, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A helicopter crashed Tuesday as it carried aid to stranded Yazidi refugees in Iraq's Sinjar mountains, killing the pilot and injuring several passengers.

Kurdish officials said there was no evidence Sunni extremists -- who have overrun the area and forced the Yazidi religious sect into hiding in the Kurdish mountains -- were involved in the incident. They added the helicopter was in no danger when it crashed.

The pilot's identity and nationality were not released.

The helicopter crashed as it was taking off after it delivered humanitarian aid and collected several evacuees. Two other helicopters took the survivors to ambulances that transported them to the city of Dohuk, 20 miles from the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil, a Kurdish government official said. Among those aboard the crashed helicopter were reporter Alissa Rubin and photographer Adam Ferguson of the New York Times. Rubin suffered broken wrists and an apparent concussion in the accident; Ferguson was uninjured.