Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday ordered a formal investigation into the crash landing of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk in Songkhla yesterday which left seven people on board injured, including the 4th Army Region commander.
In his capacity as defence minister, Gen Prayut requested the probe and expressed his concerns over the health of the seven injured military officials while also ordering special care for them, said Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence.
The helicopter reportedly encountered an engine problem while flying over tambon Wang Yai in Thepha district of Songkhla, forcing the pilot to make an emergency crash landing in a rubber plantation in Ban Khlong Yon village, according to Gen Santipong Thampiya, a spokesman for the Royal Thai Army.
The seven people on board, namely Lt Gen Kriangkrai Srirak -- commander of the 4th Army Region -- two pilots, two mechanics, a cameraman and an aide-de-camp, were rescued shortly after the crash and rushed to a nearby hospital, said Col Pramote Prom-in, a 4th Army Corps spokesman.
Lt Gen Kriangkrai sustained a broken pelvis and suffered some internal bleeding while his aide-de-camp has a broken arm and broken jaw and the others were slightly injured, said a source.
The seven were first rushed to Thepha Hospital, the district hospital closest to the crash site, before Lt Gen Kriangkrai was later transferred to Songklanagarind Hospital in Songkhla, said the same source.
The 4th Army commander, who was on an official trip to inspect border provinces, left Sena Narong military camp in Hat Yai district of Songkhla in the helicopter heading to Sirindhorn camp in Pattani's Yarang district and Inkhayutthaborihan camp in Nong Chik district of the same province, said Col Pramote.
The Black Hawk that crash-landed yesterday had been in service for 17 years and was from an army squadron that originally had 16 Black Hawks, said another source, adding one had already been lost in a previous crash.
Following yesterday's incident, the squadron now has 14 helicopters, while four out of nine refurbished Black Hawks in a new procurement are expected to arrive sometime next year, said the same source.
Back in 2005, each of the Black Hawks, supplied by Sikorsky Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut, cost 500 million baht, said the source.