PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – FOUR Spanish soldiers were killed yesterday when their helicopter crashed in a mountainous area near Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic, the United Nations has confirmed.

“The four Spanish soldiers are dead,” said George Ola-Davies, a spokesman for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, known by the French acronym, MINUSTAH.

Juan Pedro Gomez, the Spanish consul general in Haiti, said the bodies “are in the process of being recovered and will be rapidly repatriated to Spain.”

He said that Spanish Defence Minister, Carme Chacon General, and Jose Julio Rodriguez, chief of the defense staff, are expected to travel to Haiti today to fully ascertain the cause of the crash near Fond-Verettes.

Gomez said the soldiers were part of Spain's mission in Haiti in the wake of the January 12 catastrophic earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people and left 1.3 million others homeless.

He said three Spanish helicopters from the supply ship, Castilla, currently stationed in Port-au-Prince, were assisting in the recovery operation.  

The Spanish Defense Ministry said in as statement that the helicopter was returning from the Dominican Republic with another helicopter when “they lost contact with each other due to poor visibility.”

“A search operation then began and the damaged helicopter was finally spotted on the side of a mountain, which was difficult to access,” it said.

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