Helicopter with 13 aboard crashes in Peru jungle

Officials say a helicopter chartered by French oil company Perenco with 13 people on board has gone down in Peru's remote northeastern jungle.

Officials say a helicopter chartered by French oil company Perenco with 13 people on board has gone down in Peru's remote northeastern jungle.

HT Image

Perenco said in a statement that the MI-8 helicopter carrying 13 Peruvians was on a flight from the Amazon city of Iquitos to its Block 67 field Sunday when it crashed for an as yet undetermined reason.

Peru's air force said it has sent a Twin Otter plane to the Curaray river area near the oil field. Perenco said the armed forces had begun rescue operations but that so far "no survivors have been found."

Curaray is located 1,107 kilometers (690 miles) northeast of Peru's capital, Lima.