A civilian helicopter crashed at a NATO base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, a spokesman at the base said, and a Russian news agency reported 15 people had been killed.
Mohammad Aslamyar, media adviser at NATO's Kandahar Air Field, said the civilian helicopter crashed while taking off from the base. There were casualties, but no details could be released about them pending an investigation, he said, Reuters reported.
"There is no enemy hand at all in this thing," he added.
Russia's Interfax news agency reported that 15 people had been killed in the crash of a Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter at the base.
"A Mi-8 transport helicopter crashed at takeoff from an airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan," a spokesman for Russia's Federal Air Transportation Agency told Interfax on Sunday.
Interfax reported that the helicopter was carrying three crewmembers and 17 passengers.
"All crewmembers have been taken to a hospital in Kandahar. Fifteen of the 17 passengers were killed," the spokesman said, adding the victims' nationalities have yet to be established.