UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) continued recovery operations, though hampered by near-inaccessible jungle, a UN spokesman said here Wednesday.

    The UN mission "is continuing recovery and identification operations at the site of the helicopter crash near Yengema in the eastern part of the country," UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a press briefing in New York.

    Meanwhile, teams of investigators from the world body and the Russian Federation are on their way to Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, to open an official investigation of the crash that apparently killed two dozen UN workers.

    The 24 presumed dead are 14 members of Pakistan's UNAMSIL contingent, 1 member of the Bangladeshi contingent, 6 civilians and 3 crew members, according to the spokesman.

    The United Nations started to deploy peacekeepers in the West African country in October 1999. Currently, the UN mission has around 11,000 peacekeeping personnel. Enditem