Five Missing After Navy Helicopter Crash Near San Diego

U.S.|Five Missing After Navy Helicopter Crash Near San Diego

One idiosyncratic was rescued and 5 others were missing aft a U.S. Navy chopper crashed connected Tuesday successful the h2o disconnected the seashore adjacent San Diego, according to subject officials.

The origin of the clang was not instantly clear. In a statement, the Navy’s Third Fleet said the chopper “crashed into the sea” astatine 4:30 p.m. section clip portion it was conducting “routine formation operations” astir 60 nautical miles disconnected the coast.

Search efforts were ongoing aboriginal Wednesday, according to the Navy.

Military officials identified the chopper that crashed arsenic an MH-60S, a exemplary that has been successful usage since 2002, according to the Naval Air Systems Command.

The chopper had been assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class craft bearer based successful San Diego. In a statement connected Facebook connected Wednesday, Lincoln officials called the clang a “tragedy.”

The 14,000-pound chopper has a scope of 245 nautical miles and tin scope a apical velocity of 180 knots, according to the command.

The Navy has much than 250 MH-60S helicopters successful use, according to the Command.

MH-60S helicopters are utilized for a wide array of purposes, including “vertical replenishment, combat hunt and rescue, peculiar warfare enactment and airborne excavation countermeasures” according to Naval Technology, a website that reports connected subject equipment.