MONROVIA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A United Nations helicopter crashed in a remote town in northern Liberia on Friday, killing at least two of the three people on board, the U.N. mission in the West African country said.

The helicopter took off from the town of Ganta near the border with Guinea before coming down in the town of Dingamo, according to Ben Malor, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Liberia (UNMIL). The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

"It was a U.N. cargo flight with three members on board. We can confirm that two have died and one is missing," Malor said.

"We have sent out a search and rescue mission of three patrols and a medical team has gone to the site," he added.

UNMIL grounded all of its Mi-8 helicopters while the cause of the accident was being investigated. The nationalities of those on board were not immediately available.

The U.N. mission in Liberia, Africa's oldest independent republic founded by freed American slaves, is gradually drawing down as the country emerges from a devastating 14-year civil war which ended in 2003.

The world body still has more than 14,000 troops in Liberia but plans to cut the force by 5,000 by the end of the decade.

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