Two Quebec inmates climbed up a rope into a hovering helicopter to make a daring daylight escape Sunday from a jail northwest of Montreal, authorities said.

Quebec provincial police said later that they had arrested three people about 30 miles north of the Saint-Jerome jail from which the inmates escaped. One of those arrested was 36-year-old inmate Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau. Authorities late Sunday located the second inmate and said a security perimeter had been set up around the area where 33-year-old Danny Provencal has been found.

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Earlier on Sunday, police received a call from the staff at the Saint-Jerome jail, reporting the escape around 2:20 p.m., said Quebec provincial police Sgt. Benoit Richard.

The jail's warden told police that Hudon-Barbeau and Provencal had grabbed a rope dropped from the helicopter to make their getaway, Richard said.

Quebec provincial police tracked down the helicopter used in the escape on Sunday afternoon to Mont-Tremblant, about 53 miles (85 kilometers) away from the jail but only the chopper's pilot was still at the scene. He was taken to a local hospital, Richard said.

"He's going to be questioned later on by investigators, within the next couple of hours," Richard said, adding that it's too early to say what the pilot's role was in the escape.

A Montreal radio station, 98.5 FM, said it received a call Sunday from a man claiming to be Hudon-Barbeau, who said he was "ready to die" as he tried to evade police.

Yves Galarneau, the correctional services manager who oversees the Saint-Jerome jail said he'd never seen anything like the dramatic escape in more than three decades on the job.

Galarneau said there are no security measures in place at the jail to prevent a helicopter from swooping down from above.

"As far as I know, it's a first in Quebec," he told reporters at the scene. "It's exceptional."

The Saint-Jerome jail, located about 37 miles northwest of Montreal, experienced a mini-riot by about a dozen prisoners a little over a month ago.

In that incident, police were called in to secure the outside of the jail, which holds about 480 inmates, and the jail's staff used pepper spray to disperse the mob.

The helicopter crash in busy rush-hour London Wednesday was not terrorism-related. The chopper in fact struck a tall construction crane in heavy fog that left visibility in some areas near zero.

But some people initially had that fear, particularly as it happened close to the MI6 building, Britain's spy headquarters.

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The pilot had requested to land at a different place to his originally intended destination.

But Londoners, still very much on alert since the deadly July 7, 2005 bombings of trains and a bus, were immediately reminded of the scenes following those attacks — as well as the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S.

One commuter had just left a train station nearby, and said she had been looking up at the tops of buildings, marveling at the thickness of the fog that completely obscured them.

At that moment, she said, she heard an explosion that sounded like a bomb, terrifying people in the area and sending them ducking for cover.

Then she described what looked like a "meteor shower," with many pieces of fiery debris raining down onto the streets.

Still upset as she talked to reporters, the woman said her first thought was that the city was under some sort of attack.

"Like a little 9/11," she said.

'Thought it was a bomb'
Another witness said the same. He suspected the loud bang and resulting fire was likely the work of a terrorist, until word started circulating among commuters that a helicopter was involved.

"I thought it was a bomb, I literally thought it was a bomb," he told reporters.

One man said he saw the chopper land on top of a car, that also burst into flames.  Others saw several vehicles on fire.  Firefighters rescued one man from a burning car.

Even after commuter Mark Louis Sidney realized there was a helicopter, crashed on the ground, he still suspected terrorism, wondering "Wait a minute, has this thing been shot out of the sky or what?"

The London bombings in 2005 were traumatic, killing 52 people and the four bombers.  In some ways, the losses still seem fresh. 

People still tell the stories of those who lost their lives by running a few minutes early or late that morning.  Or those who were spared by the same narrow margins.

In the last few years, Londoners have also instinctively adhered to that common New York directive — "If you see something, say something" —  highly aware of their surroundings during the morning commute. To the point that any loud noise or commotion puts them on edge, looking for the nearest and best escape.

Such would be the case, one would expect, in New York or any other city that has deeply experienced an attack.

But this time, the culprit appears to be an old, old foe: London fog.

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Two die as helicopter hits crane, crashes on London street
See photographs from the scene of the crash 

LONDON — Two people were killed and nine others injured when a helicopter apparently hit a crane atop a skyscraper and then crashed on a street in the U.K. capital Wednesday morning, police said.

The crash, which happened at 8 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) in the South Lambeth area of London, caused a large fire that badly damaged at least one car on the ground.

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"At this early stage, it appears the helicopter was in collision with a crane on the top of a building," a spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police said.

She said that two people were "confirmed dead at the scene." One person was taken to a nearby hospital in a "critical condition," three others were taken to a hospital with minor injuries while five people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, she added.

Police Commander Neil Basu told reporters that the pilot of the helicopter was killed in the crash.

The helicopter struck St. George Wharf Tower, a 50-story residential block that is still under construction.

In a message on Twitter, London Fire Brigade said they had "rescued a man from a burning car at the scene of the helicopter crash."

In a statement on its website, the fire brigade said 60 firefighters, eight fire engines and four rescue vehicles were sent to the area.

“Firefighters are also attending reports of a crane in a precarious position,” it added.

A photograph posted on Twitter that purported to be of the scene showed an area of fire on a road with a large plume of smoke rising up.

'Massive explosion'Craig Dunne, who was on his way to work at the time of the crash, told BBC News that there had been “a massive explosion.”

“There were cars - three cars on fire - people screaming shouting and hollering, and the next thing I know there are police, ambulances and everything everywhere and people going crazy. It’s madness - absolute madness,” he added. He said the crane was “in pieces.”

Robert Oxley, who was also near the site of the crash, told the U.K.'s Sky News that he could see the damage to the crane from the ground.

"There a very low-hanging cloud which actually means you can barely see the top of the building ... I can see parts of the crane hanging down," he said.

Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said that visibility in London ranged from near zero to 3 miles.

The crash scene is close to the London Heliport, a commercial airbase on the south bank of the city’s River Thames.

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See more photographs from the scene of the crash

A video reportedly shot by an amateur in the Syrian city of Idlib Wednesday shows a crippled Syrian military helicopter spiraling down before it explodes in flames. Syrian rebels say they shot down the helicopter, according to The Telegraph.

The rebels reportedly have acquired heavy weapons in recent weeks, The Telegraph reported, pushing the Syrian air force to attack rebel-held zones from higher altitudes.

Syria's divided rebels have agreed to set up a joint leadership to oversee their battle to overthrow President Bashar Assad, two insurgent sources said Tuesday as fighting raged in cities across the country.

Rebels hope the decision, taken after increasing pressure from foreign supporters on them to unite, will help convince those backers that they are a credible and coordinated fighting force deserving to be supplied with more powerful weapons.

'Extremely dangerous': Assad forces use cluster bombs as rebels gain, rights group says

"The agreement has been reached, they only need to sign it now," one rebel source said. Foreign supporters "are telling us: 'Sort yourselves out and unite, we need a clear and credible side to provide it with quality weapons.'"

He said Qatar and Turkey were the main drivers behind the agreement, which he added might be formally announced this month.

Since the beginning of the revolt against Assad, Western powers have been reluctant to arm the divided rebel factions.

This is the latest attempt to bring together Assad's disparate armed opponents, most of whom have fought nominally under the banner of the rebel Free Syrian Army but who in practice have operated independently, often weakened by deep rivalries.

More weapons in Syria could trigger 'all-out war'

The new leadership will include FSA leaders Riad al-Asaad and Mustafa Sheikh - criticized by many rebels because they are based in Turkey - and recently defected Gen. Mohammad Haj Ali, as well as heads of rebel provincial military councils inside Syria like Qassem Saadeddine, based in Homs province.

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The Syrian National Council has set Nov. 4 as the date for an opposition unity conference in Qatar, organizers said.

The 19-month-old revolt against Assad, which started as peaceful demonstrations, has mushroomed into a civil war, pitting the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against a power structure dominated by the Alawite minority.

Activists say more than 30,000 people have been killed, hundreds of thousands have fled to neighboring countries and more than a million have been displaced inside Syria as entire city districts have been rendered ghost towns by heavy shelling.

The British Observatory for Human Rights said 80 people had been killed in Syria by dusk on Tuesday, after 160 died on Monday. Heavy clashes broke out in the city of Hama, and fighting continued in Aleppo and the northern province of Idlib.

A Reuters correspondent on Lebanon's northeastern border with Syria saw a helicopter dropping explosives on the Syrian side of the frontier. Refugees unloading blankets from a pickup truck in an olive grove on the Lebanese side stopped to watch big black plumes of smoke rising into the sky.

Underlining increasing international concern about the conflict, Pope Benedict will send a group of top cardinals to visit Syria in coming days to express solidarity with its battered population, the Vatican news service said.

Envoy seeks ceasefire
U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has called on Shiite Muslim Iran, Assad's closest regional ally, to help arrange a ceasefire in Syria during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha later this month.

Diplomatic sources said Brahimi is also trying to persuade Assad and the rebels to accept a ceasefire and allow U.N. monitors into the country to oversee it.

Brahimi, who took over after Kofi Annan quit in frustration in August, has been traveling around the Middle East trying to nudge regional powers into accepting his plan, which resembles a ceasefire Annan tried in vain to implement, U.N. diplomats said.

But diplomatic sources familiar with Brahimi's proposals said that neither Assad's government nor the fractious opposition had shown interest in halting the conflict.

Major powers at the United Nations remain deadlocked over what to do to defuse Syria's conflict.

Outgunned rebels have struggled to turn the tide of conflict against government forces endowed with tanks, jets and helicopter gunships. But Western powers have been reluctant to arm the insurgents because they perceive no coherent leadership and fear that weapons are ending up in the hands of Islamist militants increasingly evident in the conflict.

Mistrust and miscommunication have dominated relations between rebel brigades and each privately accuse the other of incompetence. Differences over leadership, tactics and sources of funding have also widened rifts between largely autonomous brigades scattered across Syria.

The rebel sources said countries who have supported the revolt but whose own rivalries have exacerbated rebel divisions agreed that it was time the rebels fight side by side.

"There will never be unity inside Syria unless the countries supporting the revolt agree because each group is supported and backed by (one) country," one source said.

"Now the countries are becoming nervous and the Syrian issue has become bigger than they expected and almost out of control."

Rebel leaders believe a common fighting front would enable coordination of multifaceted operations crucial to success against a better armed adversary.

"If a brigade wants to hit a (government) checkpoint,  then an intelligence unit would check it out and then raise a report up to the (regional) command. The command will take a decision on the number of men needed for this operation and the kind of weapons plus other issues," another rebel source said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Updated at 3:08 p.m. ET: Seven American troops were killed Thursday when the Black Hawk helicopter they were traveling in crashed in southern Afghanistan, possibly shot down by enemy forces, U.S. officials told NBC News.

Three of the Americans were U.S. Navy sailors – two were Navy SEALS and one was an explosive ordnance disposal sailor.

Three Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were also killed, bringing the total number of dead to 11, officials said.

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According to U.S. officials, the helicopter had just landed in a "hot zone" to insert a small number of combat forces to support an ongoing operation. It was apparently shot down shortly after it took off to depart the area.

The helicopter was totally destroyed on impact.

U.S. officials at the Pentagon and in Kabul tell NBC News that American forces engaged in a shootout with enemy forces on the ground who were trying to reach the crash site.  

The crash marked another deadly day for the U.S. in Afghanistan, less than a week after six American service members were gunned down, apparently by two members of the Afghan security forces they were training to take over the fight against the insurgency as international combat troops prepare to exit the country by the end of 2014.

The recent spike in American deaths and attacks by Afghan allies have stirred fresh doubts about the prospects for the U.S. plan to leave a capable Afghan government in place when most troops depart after more than a decade of war.

Spokesman Brig. Gen Gunter Katz said the NATO coalition is investigating the cause of Thursday's crash in Shah Wali Kot, Kandahar.

Dozens killed in Afghan suicide bomber attacks

The Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, saying they were able to bring down the aircraft during a raid by the "invaders."

While the Taliban often exaggerate their victories and are quick to claim any incident involving the death of foreign troops, it could be significant that they took responsibility for Thursday's crash hours before NATO announced it.

"Nobody survived this," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone.

Insurgent hotbed
The area where the helicopter went down is an insurgent hotbed and supply route, lying north of Kandahar city near Zabul and Uruzgan provinces. The insurgents regularly attack police checkpoints around the rural villages of the district and plant bombs in the road to catch passing government vehicles.

Is the Taliban softening its stance on girls' education?

Thursday's crash is the deadliest since a Turkish helicopter crashed into a house near the Afghan capital, Kabul, on March 16, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians on the ground, officials said.

The Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter in August 2011, killing all 38 people on board, including 25 U.S. special operations service members.

The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a medium-lift helicopter that has served as the U.S. Army's workhorse since the 1980s.

 

The U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan has relied heavily on utility helicopters such as the Black Hawk to ferry troops, dignitaries and supplies around the mountainous terrain, thus avoiding the threat of ambushes and roadside bombs.

Afghan bomber kills senior Army leader, 2 majors

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said this week that the Taliban had not let up on attacks during Ramadan and security forces had stepped up security ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival, which ends Islam's holiest month. 

A half-yearly report by the United Nations last week said 1,145 civilians have been killed between Jan. 1 and June 30 this year as well as 1,954 wounded, representing a 15 percent decline on last year due to a severe winter that hampered fighting.

Homemade bombs and suicide attacks remain the biggest killers of Afghan civilians and Afghan and foreign troops. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenya's former Vice President George Saitoti, who was serving as the country's security minister and was a presidential candidate in an upcoming election, was killed Sunday when a police helicopter crashed into a forest outside the capital, the government said.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga's spokesman said Odinga had been informed of the deaths of Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode.

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A former long-serving vice president under the former President Daniel Arap Moi, Saitoti was also a presidential candidate in an election expected to be held by March next year.

A Reuters photographer counted three charred bodies at the scene of the crash in a forest in the Ngong area just outside of Nairobi.

Debris of the burned-out blue police helicopter were strewn in the brush where government officials and curious locals jostled to catch a glimpse.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash.

According to messages posted on Kenya's Capital FM radio Twitter account, two bodyguards were also onboard and feared dead. They were accompanying Saitoti and Ojode to a church service, the station said.

Additionally, two pilots were onboard and feared dead, Capital FM reported, which would bring the death toll to six if confirmed.

Saitoti, an ally of President Mwai Kibaki, was the leading government voice against Somali militants al-Shabab, often visiting the scenes of grenade attacks inside Kenya and vowing the east African nation would crush the group.

Kenya's troops have been fighting al-Shabab in neighboring Somalia since last October. The militants have killed several people in a string of grenade attacks in Nairobi, the far north and the coast in retaliation to Kenya's moves against them.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter with four crew members on board crashed in southwestern Afghanistan on Thursday.

A senior U.S. military official confirmed to NBC News that there was bad weather in the area at the time of the crash, but said that the possibility that enemy activity downed the helicopter could not be ruled out.

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A senior source with the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul told NBC News that no confirmed reason for the crash was available.

Karzai fumes over US troops posing with body parts 

Other than the four crew members, no passengers were believed to be on board.

"We don't expect any survivors," the official told NBC News.

The Blackhawk was traveling with another helicopter at the time, though the second helicopter did not experience any problems.

Reuters, citing a U.S. defense official, said that the helicopter went down in the Regional Command-Southwest area, which includes the traditional Taliban stronghold of Helmand province.

Despite a resilient insurgency, the United States, like its NATO allies, plans to withdraw most of its combat troops from the country by the end of 2014.

Jim Miklaszewski is the chief Pentagon correspondent for NBC News; Courtney Kube is the Pentagon producer for NBC News. Reuters also contributed to this report.

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Two U.S. Marine Corps personnel were killed and two others were seriously hurt in a helicopter crash in Morocco, according to a statement by U.S. Africa Command.

The statement said that an MV-22 Osprey operating from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima crashed in a Royal Moroccan military training area southwest of Agadir, Morocco, while participating in “Exercise African Lion,” Wednesday. 

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“Four U.S. Marine Corps personnel were on the aircraft at the time of the incident. Two personnel died as a result of their injuries sustained in the crash,” it said. “The two other personnel were severely injured in the crash and are being medically evacuated for further treatment.”

The MV-22 Osprey was assigned to a Marine squadron based at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, N.C, the statement added.

“The cause of the incident is under investigation,” the statement said.

An annual event, Exercise African Lion 2012 began on April 8.

The statement said it was a “theater security cooperation exercise led by U.S. Marine Forces Africa and is conducted annually between the U.S. military and the Kingdom of Morocco to further develop joint and combined capabilities.”

The exercise is designed to improve field and aviation training, humanitarian civic assistance, amphibious landings, intelligence capacity building, and command post and peace support operations.

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HONOLULU -- All six Marines killed in the crash of a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan were based in Hawaii, a Hawaii congresswoman said Friday.

The CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter crashed Thursday in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand.

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Friday she's saddened to hear of the deaths. Her spokeswoman, Ashley Nagaoka Boylan, said the congresswoman was notified Thursday evening that all six Marines were Hawaii-based.

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"All who have called Hawaii home are part of our island ohana, and every loss like this touches us deeply," Hanabusa said in a statement, using the Hawaiian word for family.

The commander of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363,  Lt. Col. Mark Revor, said on the unit's Facebook page that all six killed were from the Kaneohe-based unit, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

France considers early withdrawal from Afghanistan

A senior U.S. defense official confirmed all six were Marines on condition of anonymity because the U.S. command in Afghanistan had not yet publicly released details.

Family members identified one of those killed as Marine Cpl. Kevin Reinhard, 25, of the Colonia section of Woodbridge, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. Reinhard was a 2005 graduate of St. Joseph High School in Metuchen.

An obituary written by his family and provided to The Star-Ledger said Reinhard, based in Hawaii, was a crew chief who served on Sikorsky Sea Stallion helicopters.

"For his family and friends he was already a hero ... before he ever put on a uniform for his country," his relatives wrote. "The uniform only announced to the rest of the world what a wonderful man, what a wonderful soul he was — that he was a hero for all of us."

Arkansas family loses second son in Afghanistan

Reinhard joined the Marine Corps in 2008 and was with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363, the Lucky Red Lions.

The unit deployed in late August to southern Afghanistan and is scheduled to return home in March, Hawaii News Now reported. The unit's mission is to provide assault support, transport Marines and critical supplies, as well as equipment during expeditionary operations

The CH-53D, a Vietnam War-era helicopter, is the same model as one that crashed and killed a Marine in a bay off Hawaii on March 29. An investigation later revealed mechanical failure caused that accident.

The defense official said there is no indication that the helicopter in Afghanistan was hit by enemy fire.

'Tragic news'
Thursday's crash was the deadliest in Afghanistan since August, when 30 American troops died after a Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down in Wardak province in the center of the country.

The cause of the latest crash is still being investigated, but a statement issued by the NATO international military coalition said there was no enemy activity in the area when it happened.

German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for the NATO coalition in Kabul, said officials were looking at a "technical fault" as the possible culprit.

"The helicopter is one of the safest forms of transport," Jacobson said. He said not only does it protect troops the danger of roadside bombs on the ground, but it is well-tested, well-proven way to travel.

Previous story: 6 Marines die in Afghanistan copter crash

CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters were first used in the 1960s, and the Marine Corps used them in the Vietnam War.

All Sea Stallions still used operationally are stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. The military plans to replace them with the MV-22 Osprey.

"The loss of the six U.S. Marines in yesterday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan comes as tragic news for our island community and our nation," U.S. Rep. Mazie K. Hirono, of Hawaii, said in a statement. "We owe them and all of our brave servicemen and women a debt of gratitude for their dedication to our country."

In 2005, the same base lost 27 Marines when a CH-53E Super Stallion deployed to Iraq crashed during a desert sandstorm. Altogether, 30 Marines and a Navy medic were killed in that crash.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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