Two veteran soldiers from northern Nevada were
among five killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
The two men had served more than a decade in Company D, the 113th Aviation Unit of the Nevada Army National Guard based in
Stead.
They have been identified as 36-year-old Chief Warrant Officer
John Flynn of Sparks and 35-year-old Sergeant Patrick Stewart of
Fernley.
The five soldiers died when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed
Sunday morning in a rugged, mountainous part of southern
Afghanistan.
U-S military officials say they do NOT believe the crash was the
result of hostile fire.
Flynn, a pilot and instructor, joined the Nevada Guard in 1988.
Stewart was a repair technician who had been in the Nevada Guard
for 11 years and also served in Desert Storm.
Governor Kenny Guinn says losing any members of the Nevada
National Guard is tragic, but having two members killed in one
incident is even more so.

According to the Nevada Office of the MIlitary, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, killing two Nevada Army National Guardsmen with the Company D, 113th Aviation unit out of Stead.

The Associated Press is saying the crash occurred near Daychopan, a mountainous area about 180 miles southwest of Kabul in the southern Zabul province, an area known for Taliban aggression.

The AP is also reporting they were contacted by a Taliban spokesman claiming responsibility for the crash, but offering no evidence, they say information from the spokesman has been unreliable in the past.

However, the copter was part of a convoy, and other pilots involved say they did not see any hostile fire.

A spokesman for Zabul's governor said no fighting took place in the area Monday and the weather was fine.

Our own meteorologist Chris Larson says the weather near the region was forecast to be 70-degrees and sunny around the time of the crash, so it's questionable if the crash was related to the weather.

Investigators are now at the crash site, trying to determine what brought down the chopper.