A military helicopter often used to transport Bolivian President Evo Morales crashed in central Bolivia, but Morales was not aboard, Bolivia's defense minister said Monday. Five crew members were reported killed. Morales had used the Super Puma helicopter on Saturday and was scheduled to fly in it again on Monday, Defense Minister Walker San Miguel told reporters in La Paz. He said the cause of the accident has not yet been determined, and those killed were “people linked to presidential transport.” Morales uses two Super Puma helicopters on loan from ally Venezuela for his travel within Bolivia. The helicopter that crashed took off Sunday afternoon from the central city of Cochabamba, where it had stopped to refuel. It was headed for the northern Amazon city of Cobija when Cochabamba air officials declared an emergency. The helicopter was not found until dawn Monday, when a farmer in the village of Colomi, a mountainous area about 250 kilometers east of La Paz, reported the crash, San Miguel said.
