US Military Helicopter Accidentally Drops Shipping Container On Factory In South Korea

A US Military transport helicopter, likely a Boeing CH-47 Chinook (not yet confirmed), accidentally dropped a shipping container on a building in South Korea on Monday, reported Stars and Stripes. 

The incident occurred in the vicinity of Cheoin, Yongin City, South Korea, on Monday, when a helicopter was airlifting a shipping container to an unknown location. 

The helicopter belonged to the 2nd Infantry Division/Combined ROK-U.S. Division and, according to local media reports – the container had a fuel pump and other components associated with it. 

“By all accounts, it did cause property damage, but nobody was injured,” said 2nd ID spokesman Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton. “Unit leaders are on the ground, and a thorough investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances and cause of the accident.”

Crighton said the container is an ISU 90, a 4-door lightweight aluminum pallet container. 

He said the container broke away from the helicopter because of an equipment malfunction and fell through the roof of a food processing plant. 

Local media reports said nobody at the factory was injured as the building was unoccupied at the time of the incident. 

The 2nd Infantry Division is stationed at Camp Humphreys near Pyeongtaek-si City, South of Seoul. It is the last permanently forward-stationed division in the U.S. Army. The base’s mission has been to protect South Korea from a North Korean attack. 

Last month, a Marine Corps CH-53E helicopter lost a cabin window during a routine flight in Okinawa, Japan. No injuries or property damage was reported at the time of the incident. 

Another window cabin fell from a CH-53E in late 2017 and landed on a school’s sports field in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan.

The Navy pushed new maintenance protocols after a cabin window fell from an MH-53E Sea Dragon in July 2018 at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, about 30 miles southwest of central Tokyo.