German helicopter crash kills four

HAMBURG, Germany -- Four servicemen have died in a military helicopter crash in a suburb of Hamburg, police have said.

The medical helicopter was on its way to a car crash when the accident happened on Thursday morning.

The bodies of two crew members had been pulled from the wreckage while another two were still in the crashed helicopter, a fire service spokesman told Reuters news agency.

The whereabouts of a fifth crew member who was supposedly on board was not immediately clear.

Hamburg city interior minister Ronald Schill said at the scene that one witness had been taken to hospital with shock.

He said technical problems were the suspected cause of the crash but a fire service spokesman said the cause of the crash was not yet known.