Thailand offers best assistance after US marine helicopter's emergency landing

BANGKOK, February 21 (TNA) - Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha says that he has ordered the 3rd Army Area Command to offer its best assistance, after a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter of the US Marines participating in this year's Cobra Gold military exercise made an emergency landing in an adjoining area between Phitsanulok and Phetchabun provinces in the Lower Thai North on Wednesday. General Prayuth told journalists on Thursday morning, before visiting the 3rd Army Area from February 21-23, that he has instructed the 3rd Army Area Command to handle the situation, covering its best assistance and the deployment of 200 search and rescue officers who have already reached the injured, praising the US military as a good friend of Thailand in the annual Cobra Gold regional military exercise. According to photographs, the US marine helicopter apparently hit the ground and caught fire and four American soldiers were seriously injured, one of them, whose body was burnt, was sent on a helicopter to a hospital in Bangkok on Wednesday night. However, the Thai army commander-in-chief acknowledged that the US military has its own system to take good care of its personnel, and that, the Royal Thai Air Force's flight safety committee is investigating the incident. (TNA)