The chopper made an 'emergency landing' at 11:08am, 18 minutes into its take-off from Tejgaon Old Airport, shortly after its engine suddenly stopped.

The tailbone of the helicopter broke into two but the pilots -- instructor Group Captain (retd.) Zafar and trainee Lt Col Manjur -- escaped unhurt.

No-one on the ground was injured either.

The engine of the light army aviation chopper Bel 206 (L4) ceased to operate at an altitude of 1,000 feet, but pilot Zafar managed to keep control of the aircraft, Manjur said.

Zafar looked for an open space to land the chopper that had hardly flown 1,000 hours since it was bought two years ago. He spotted the playground where a First Division cricket match between Surjatarun Club and Jatrabari Krira Sangha was going on.

The players on the ground in sheer disbelief watched the helicopter crash-land, hardly 50 feet away from the umpire and the bowler.

Witnesses said the chopper's tailbone broke when it hit the ground. The two pilots simply walked off the helicopter unscathed. They later said had they not found the playground they would have to make the landing on a rooftop.

Bangladesh Cricket Board's Groundsman Habibur Rahman Habib said he looked up at the sky above the southwestern side of the playground when he heard a loud 'bang'.

He said when the helicopter was descending on the field he thought it was purposely landing there for some reason. When it glided towards the players and umpires with its blades rotating, everyone started running for cover.

"I saw the tailbone of the helicopter hitting the ground first, then within seconds the two pilots emerged from it," said Habib. "But by that time everyone on the ground had run away."

Some 45 minutes after the landing, a rescue team of the Engineering Core of Bangladesh Air Force arrived at the scene.

As the army, police and air force personnel cordoned off the area, engineers towed the craft with a large crane onto a trailer. It took the experts over four hours to do the job and carry the helicopter to the army workshop.

Lt Col Nazrul Islam, director of the Inter-Service Public Relations, said the helicopter was damaged during the emergency landing. "But a proper picture of the damage will be available after assessment by a high-level committee formed to investigate the incident," he added.