A Russian helicopter used by NATO forces in southern Afghanistan has crashed at a military base, killing 16 people on board. The three crew members and two passengers were injured.

A NATO spokesperson at Kandahar's NATO air field stressed that the craft, which came down during take-off, had not been hit by enemy fire. The Mi-8 transport helicopter was operated by a Russian company. The crash was the second by a former-Soviet civilian helicopter in southern Afghanistan in less than a week. Six Ukrainian crew members died on board a Soviet-built Mi-26 transport helicopter in Helmand province on Tuesday. An Afghan civilian died on the ground.