FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) - A UN helicopter crashed in flames on a remote hillside in Sierra Leone yesterday, killing all 24 peacekeepers, aid workers and others aboard, UN officials in the West African nation said.

Victims aboard the Russian-made Mi-8 included the Russian crew, UN mission spokeswoman Sharon McPherson said. A passenger manifest made available to The Associated Press said the passengers included 14 Pakistani peacekeepers and a Pakistani police officer, and travellers from several African countries.

Authorities offered no immediate explanation for the accident, which left the wreckage in flames on a hill.

The United Nations has about 11,800 peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, overseeing the country's peace accord, which followed a vicious 1991-2002 civil war.

Fighting stopped by 2002, and there have been no known attacks on UN officials since.

The helicopter had taken off from the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown with 21 passengers and three crew, said Daniel Adekera, another UN spokesman.

Its ultimate destination was the western city of Kailahun, after a stop in Yengama, near some of the main diamond fields in mineral-rich Sierra Leone.

Ground crews lost radio contact, and sent out a search crew within seven minutes, Adekera said.

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