AN inquiry was under way today into the cause of a crash which left an RAF helicopter broken in two on remote North Yorkshire moorland.

Eight people, thought to be students at the Harrogate Army Training College, were slightly hurt when the Puma aircraft crashed on Hipswell Moor, near Catterick.

A ninth suffered more serious injuries when the helicopter, from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, came down while on a routine mission in the area.

Of the 14 military personnel on board, nine were flown by other military helicopters to the Friarage Hospital at Northallerton.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said they were all treated for minor injuries, apart from one person with a serious leg injury, who was believed to be an RAF load master.

It is understood the eight who had treatment for minor injuries were young Army personnel, while the others on board the aircraft were instructors and crew members.

A board of inquiry is looking into the accident.

Nobody from the army college was available for comment about its involvement today and York army staff referred calls to the Ministry of Defence. Nobody there was available for comment.

The Puma helicopter is a tactical transport aircraft which first came into RAF service in 1971.

It can operate as a casualty evacuation aircraft, a troop transport for up to 16 fully-equipped troops, as a medium-lift transport carrying up to 5,000 pounds of freight, using under fuselage hard points to sling loads externally, and as a helicopter gunship capable of carrying a wide variety of armament.

Its maximum speed is 163mph, and it can carry up to 20 passengers.

A source close to the military confirmed the eight people with minor injuries were soldiers from the Army Foundation Training College, at Harrogate.

The source said they were all signed-up soldiers and as such would be expected to take part in the same activities as other fully qualified soldiers.

A spokesman for the MoD said it would be at least five months before a possible cause for the crash could be surmised.

A Royal Air Force inquiry team has been put together with officers drawn from all over the UK.

A glider came to earth in a North Yorkshire field in what police said appeared to be a forced landing.

A spokeswoman said the glider's pilot, whom she named as Peter Wilson, an experienced pilot from the Hull area, was uninjured in the incident, near Moor Monkton. She added the glider had come from Rufforth Airfield, near York.

Rufforth Airfield administrator Brian Mennell said: "Basically, the thermal that the glider was staying airborne on decayed and the pilot was forced to land.

"It happens all the time in gliding. The pilot landed in a field, packed up the glider and went home totally unhurt. There is no need for any investigation."