Newsday

Eight Die in Seoul Helicopter Crash

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A helicopter slammed into an electricity tower and plunged into the sea Thursday, killing eight people, including the head of South Korea's third-largest steel company, police said. Four people were injured.

Kim Jong-jin, chairman of Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., was among those killed when the S-76 Sikorsky helicopter carrying 12 people crashed in driving rain.

''It was raining hard and the visibility was not good at the time of the accident,'' said Chung Soon-wook, a maritime police lieutenant at Chinhae, a port city 173 miles south of Seoul.

The helicopter crashed near Chinhae around 11:40 a.m. It took off from Kimhae International Airport on the south coast and was on its way to a shipyard run by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Maritime Engineering Co.

Those on board included five Dongkuk officials, four Daewoo officials and three crewmen.

All the Dongkuk officials and two Daewoo officials were killed. A crewman also died.

The national Yonhap news agency quoted pilot Kang Ik-soo, who survived, as saying that he lost control of the Daewoo-owned craft when it was hit by a sudden gale amid thick clouds.

''Fishing boats first saw the crash and rushed to the scene, pulling up the survivors and victims,'' police officer Kim Kyong-mo said.

Police later recovered two bodies trapped in the mangled helicopter, which sank to the 8-yard-deep sea bottom.

AP-NY-07-05-01 0552EDT< 

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), July 05, 2001