A U.S. Seahawk helicopter on a relief operation crashed in a rice paddy near Banda Aceh's airport, injuring all 10 aboard and causing the military to briefly suspend flights on Monday. Capt. Kendall L. Card, the commander of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which is stationed off the coast of Sumatra island, said over the ship's loudspeakers that six of the servicemen aboard the aircraft had been hurt seriously and four had minor injuries. The worst injury was a dislocated pelvis, he said. Lt. Cmdr. John M. Daniels blamed the crash, which happened just after 7:30 a.m. local time, on a "possible mechanical failure" and said it was being investigated. Fifteen Seahawk helicopters from the Lincoln group have been flying up to nine hours a day on aid missions. Normally they fly a maximum of three to four hours a day. The SH60 helicopter crashed in a rice paddy about 500 yards from the airport in Banda Aceh, the main city on Indonesia's tsunami-battered Sumatra island, as it was trying to land, he said.
