QUETTA, Jan 20: Two US Marines were killed and five others injured when a United States military helicopter CH-53-E stallion crashed in the mountainous area near Bagram airport, north of Kabul, on Sunday morning.

“A US military helicopter crashed in mountain range near Bagram airport this morning,” Lieutenant James Jhrvis of US Marines confirmed to newsmen in Kandahar.

The crash took place around 8.00am PST. Seven marines were on board when the helicopter crashed.

“There are some survivors in the crash,” Jhrvis said, adding that it was confirmed that two Marines were killed and five injured.

The injured were rescued and shifted to hospital for treatment.

“The helicopter was on a re-supply mission to somewhere in northern Afghanistan when it crashed into mountains,” he said. The cause of crash was not known.

“It was not a sabotage activity,” the spokesman of US Marines in Kandahar told reporters, adding: “No bullet spot was found on the wreckage of the helicopter.” However, a probe has been launched to ascertain the real cause of the incident.

After receiving information about the crash, rescue helicopters were rushed to the site of crash and two dead bodies of the US Marines were recovered while five others were rescued and shifted to hospital.

It was the third US military helicopter which crashed in Afghanistan and Pakistan since the US launched military operation in Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda and the Taliban government.

The first helicopter crashed at Dalbandin airport in Chagai district of Balochistan in the second week of October last while the second met accident in Ghazni area of Afghanistan.

A KC-130 US military plane had also crashed in the mountainous area near Shamshi airport in Kharian district of Balochistan.