Two Dutch Killed in U.N. Helicopter Crash in Mali

Two Dutch United Nations peacekeepers were killed on Tuesday when their helicopter crashed in northern Mali, airport and U.N. sources said.

The helicopter, from the U.N.'s MINUSMA mission, crashed about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Gao, a source from the city's airport told Agence France-Presse, adding that two people were injured and subsequently died.

"One of our aircraft crashed... Two occupants of the helicopter were killed," a MINUSMA source confirmed, adding that they were Dutch.

The Dutch defense ministry said it had no knowledge of the accident.

MINUSMA has some 11,000 personnel on the ground in Mali, around 670 of whom come from the Netherlands.

With more than 40 peacekeepers killed since its inception in 2013, MINUSMA is considered the most dangerous U.N. mission in the world, particularly for the Chadian contingent, which has sustained a large proportion of the casualties.