Nine dead after military helicopter crashes with police chief & bank exec suspect onboard in El Salvador

NINE people have been killed after a military helicopter crashed in El Salvador.

Among those onboard when the El Salvador Armed Forces chopper fell near the southeastern city of Pasaquina were a civil police chief and a money laundering suspect.

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The horror plunge took place on Sunday night as social media footage showed what appeared to be the chopper’s wreckage in the middle of the jungle.

Men could be seen scouring the pitch-black grounds with their flashlights.

On board the aircraft were Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, the director of the National Civil Police, and Manuel Coto Barrientos, the former executive president of the Santa Victoria Cooperative (Cosavi).

Barrientos had been turned over by the Honduran police a few hours prior in response to an international arrest warrant for suspected money laundering, local media reports.

He was caught on Saturday in Choluteca, Honduras, while allegedly trying to flee to the United States, according to El Heraldo .

Barrientos, along with his parents and two of his brothers, was being investigated for the alleged embezzlement of at least $35 million.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has assured that the helicopter crash cannot be considered a “simple accident”.

In a message shared on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “It is necessary to investigate thoroughly and to the final consequences. We will ask for international help.”

It comes after a helicopter used to put out a fire crashed into a Portuguese river last month.

Tourists are said to have watched in horror as the chopper dived into the Douro River in northern Portugal – killing five of the six on board .

The body of the fifth victim was found on August 31, the day after the accident.

The chopper had been tackling a fire in Baiao near to the crash scene when it went down.

Maritime Police described the crash as having “great violence” leading to the aircraft’s “total destruction”.

It is not yet clear what caused the crash.

The victims, aged from 29 to 45, were all members of the Emergency Protection and Rescue Unit (UEPS) of the national police.

Divers from the Portuguese Navy and a local Hydrographic Institute used sonar to find the wreckage.

GNR (National Republican Guard) spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Mafalda Almeida, said: “We will not fail their families.”

“We bow before their greatness, in the certainty that the best way to honour their memory is to move forward, with the same dedication and bravery they demonstrated.”

Reuters