Three from Georgia killed in Afghanistan crash

<p>The wife of a civilian contractor in Afghanistan and their two daughters were among those killed in a helicopter crash that claimed 16 lives, family members said Thursday.</p><p>Darlene Moulder, 55, and daughters Bryn, 21, and Caroline, 17, of Atlanta were on their way to meet with Stuart Moulder and then go on a family vacation, his sister, Carol Dallas, told WAGA-TV.</p><p>She said Stuart Moulder had called her earlier Thursday after the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter _ owned by the Afghan government and operated by a private company _ crashed about 25 miles northeast of Khost city Wednesday en route from the capital, Kabul.</p><p>"He was a little incoherent, and so I could not understand everything he said," Dallas recounted. "But at some point, they found out that the copter had crashed and everybody was dead.</p><p>"I think we're all in shock," she added.</p><p>Caroline Moulder had just graduated from Grady High School in Atlanta and planned to go to the University of Georgia in the fall. Both she and her sister worked at a hardware store in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood.</p><p>"They were like my little sisters," co-worker Michael Brumbalow said. He said he was concerned about their travel to Afghanistan but they were excited about seeing their father.</p><p>The helicopter was operated by a logistics firm, Tryco. A Tryco official in Kabul said the helicopter was rented by Fluor, a U.S.-based company doing construction work in Khost province, about 90 miles south of Kabul.</p><p>Three of those on the flight were family members of a Fluor employee, company spokesman Keith Stephens said. He did not disclose their nationalities.</p><p>American and Afghan troops hiked through rugged terrain Thursday to reach the wreckage in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.</p><p>A purported Taliban spokesman claimed the rebels shot down the chopper, but a military official said it probably crashed by accident in bad weather.</p><p>Officials said there were no survivors. But there was some uncertainty over the number of people on board because the manifest listing passengers' names had been kept on the aircraft, according to a Western diplomat.</p><p>The 12 recovered bodies were being flown to the main U.S. base at Bagram Air Base, near Kabul, for repatriation, according to Col. Tom Collins, a coalition spokesman.</p>

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