Chopper crash in Egypt kills 8 peacekeepers, mostly U.S. troops

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Eight international peacekeepers, including six American soldiers, were killed Thursday in a helicopter crash in Egypt, military officials said.

The Multinational Force and Observers, an international force overseeing the terms of the 1978 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, said the peacekeepers died near Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula during a routine mission.

Eight of the nine members involved in the crash were killed, including six Americans, a French citizen and a Czech national, the officials said. None were initially identified.

The survivor is an American coalition member and was medically evacuated.

"There is no information to indicate the crash was anything except an accident," the coalition said.

The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known.

There are more than 400 U.S. military personnel in the 1,100-member coalition that's part of the MFO mission in the Sinai Peninsula.

What type of aircraft crashed and which nation it belongs to were not immediately reported.