Seven marines and four soldiers are presumed dead after an army helicopter that was carrying them went down in foggy conditions during a training exercise near Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
“All we can say at this time is that some human remains have washed ashore, and we have also recovered some aircraft parts,“ said an Eglin spokesman, Mike Spaits. “Right now, the fog is hampering our cause, and there is an ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the crash.”
All 11 on the helicopter are presumed dead, a Pentagon official said.
About a dozen airmen wearing fatigues walked shoulder to shoulder down the beach, scanning the sand, while searchers with dogs joined them, along with area law enforcement and rescue crews.
Somewhere offshore, search boats could be heard but not seen through the fog, blasting horns as their crews peered into the water. The marines were part of a special operations regiment from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and the four soldiers, the aircrew, were members of the National Guard’s 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion out of Hammond, Louisiana, said an Eglin spokeswoman, Sara Vidoni.
They were conducting the training mission at one of the base’s range sites just east of Navarre Beach when the helicopter disappeared at 8.30 pm on Tuesday. Helicopter debris was first spotted at 2am and continued to wash up on the strip of beach, which is owned by the military, on Wednesday morning.
A Coast Guard spokesman, Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash, said officials were using at least two small boats to conduct the search. Local fire departments and officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were also assisting, he said.
The helicopter, a Black Hawk, took off from an airport in Destin on Tuesday night, and joined another Black Hawk as part of the training mission. The second helicopter returned safely to the base, which is about an hour away from Pensacola, Florida.
Ms Vidoni said base officials had no more information on the missing personnel, and that they were investigating what might have caused the crash.
The names of those onboard the helicopter were not released, pending the notification of their families.
New York Times