Five Americans killed in Peru helicopter crash: prosecutor

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LIMA, Peru—A helicopter used by an oil and mining company crashed into a commercial building in a village in northern Peru on Monday, killing at least seven people, including five Americans, an official said.

“There are seven dead, including five Americans and two Peruvians,” Marcos Ochoa, a local prosecutor, told Peru’s RPP radio after villagers reported seeing the helicopter exploding and splitting in two as it hit the ground.

The accident occurred at 2:57 p.m. local time (1957 GMT) in the village of San Juan, in the northern jungle region of Ucayali, and police and specialists investigators were looking into the cause, the prosecutor said.

“The helicopter crashed and exploded,” one villager told RPP, adding that she saw three bodies on the ground.

Firefighters and police cordoned off the crash site as investigators began their work.

“The sound was terrible, we did not know what to do, the helicopter broke in two and was consumed by fire,” another witness, a man, told reporters.