North Yorkshire Police said the injured were taken to nearby hospitals. Two were in critical condition at a hospital in the city of Middlesbrough, a hospital spokeswoman said, while five other victims were stable. The condition of the remaining three was unknown.

Air Force officials had earlier said 12 injured people were taken to hospitals after the crash late Wednesday. Police said two were later confirmed dead.

The Puma helicopter was carrying nine army personnel and three Royal Air Force crew when it came down near Catterick Garrison, a large army base.

The helicopter crashed in a wooded area about 240 miles (385 kilometers) north of London, Royal Air Force spokesman Michael Mulford said. He said the helicopter was helping the army as part of an exercise at Catterick, the site of the army's Infantry Training Center.

Air force helicopters were scrambled from nearby bases and arrived at the scene within 10 minutes of the crash just before 9 p.m. (2000GMT), he said.

Local resident Andrew Pavey said he saw the helicopter "quite rapidly go straight up into the air, and it didn't sound right."

"It sounded like the engine was misfiring or something _ it was making a hell of a racket," he told the BBC. "This helicopter went on to its side and then shot off."

The Ministry of Defense said an investigation into the crash would begin Thursday.

"The board of inquiry will start work ... through the night or certainly tomorrow, and they will take as long as it takes to work their way through and determine what happened here," Mulford said.

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