7 dead, including 5 Americans, in helicopter crash involving peacekeepers in Egypt



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An American survived the crash, which occurred in the vicinity of Sharm el-Sheikh, the coalition said in a statement. The names of those involved are not being released pending notification of the next of kin.

The coalition force said “there was no information that the crash was anything other than an accident” and that an investigation was underway to determine the cause.

The peacekeeping force, known as the Multinational Observer Force (MFO), oversees the peace agreement reached between Egypt and Israel under the Camp David accords of 1978.

The force is made up of some 1,150 members from 13 countries, including about 450 Americans.

A French and a Czech were also killed in the crash, the coalition said.

A US official could not immediately say whether the craft was an American helicopter, and the Trump administration is working to confirm details.

Security in the region has deteriorated in recent years amid a campaign of violence by a local ISIS affiliate that has targeted civilians and government forces.

In 2016, after a series of militant attacks, the United States moved large numbers of forces further south to where they were deemed to be safer and increased the use of remote technologies like cameras to carry out the mission.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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