Helicopter crashes into lake in China's Yunnan

KUNMING -- A helicopter on Monday morning crashed into a lake in Dali City, Southwest China's Yunnan province, while clearing the destruction caused by a forest fire, local authorities have said.

The helicopter crashed into the Erhai Lake at 10:20 am as it attempted to draw water to clear and irrigate a burnt area, said the Dali municipal bureau of emergency management.

The fire broke out on Sunday in a forest in Dali and was extinguished by 6:40 am on Monday. The crashed helicopter didn't join the firefighting efforts, sources with the publicity bureau of Dali told Xinhua.

Emergency and medical teams are carrying out rescue work on-site. It is not yet clear whether any casualties resulted from the crash.

An investigation into the crash is underway.

A total of 2,532 people were mobilized to extinguish the fire, which scorched some 48 hectares of land, according to the forest and grassland fire prevention and control headquarters in Dali. No casualties as a result of the fire have been reported.