The seven soldiers killed in a military helicopter crash in the south-central US state of Texas on Monday included six officers, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The soldiers from the Fort Hood-based 4th Infantry Division included a brigadier general, assistant division commander for support; a colonel, commander of the Division Support Command; a captain, who was an air defense artillery officer; three chief warrant officers and a specialist.

The seven were killed when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed while flying from Fort Hood, Texas, to check on progress in repairing vehicles damaged in Iraq, the Pentagon said.

Fort Hood officials said the crash occurred about 7 a.m. local time (13 GMT) when the helicopter collided with a portion of a television transmission tower about 24 km north of Temple, a processing and manufacturing center in central Texas, killing all aboard.

Media reports said the Black Hawk clipped a TV transmission tower wire in foggy weather before crashing in a field near the tower.

Acting public affairs officer Jim Wittmeyer at Fort Hood said the soldiers were en route to Red River Army Depot, near Texarkana,in the northeast of the state, where their unit's Humvees and other vehicles were being repaired and readied for their upcoming deployment to Iraq, expected in midsummer.

The 4th Infantry Division, which played a key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003 and lost 80 soldiers and one civilian during its yearlong deployment in Iraq, returned to its Fort Hood headquarters in March this year.

An investigation team from the US Army Safety Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, would conduct a formal investigation into the accident.

Source: Xinhua