Helicopter crash kills 2 in China's Yunnan

KUNMING -- Two crew members were killed and two remained missing after a helicopter crashed into a lake in Dali City, Southwest China's Yunnan province, on Monday morning, local authorities said.

The helicopter with four crew members on board crashed into the Erhai Lake at 10:20 am as it was attempting to draw water to clear and irrigate a burnt area caused by a forest fire, said the information office of the Dali municipal government.

Two crew members were retrieved at around 11:40 am and 3:15 pm, respectively, but died despite emergency medical treatment, it said.

Over 490 professional rescue workers with 16 rescue boats have joined the search operation for the missing crew members.

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.

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.