HONOLULU (AP) – A multi-agency team scoured the ocean off Hawaii for five soldiers aboard an Army helicopter that went down during a nighttime training exercise.
The UH-60 Black Hawk went missing when another Army helicopter training with it lost visual and radio contact about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Lt. Col. Curtis Kellogg, a spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division.
Two pilots and three crew members were on board, he said. The Army has notified the soldiers’ families, Kellogg said.
“As we do this work, the soldiers and their families are in the forefront of our minds. That’s what we’re doing this for,” Kellogg said.
Honolulu Fire Department search and rescue crews found and collected pieces of helicopter fuselage and a helmet in a debris field about 2 miles (3 kilometers) off Kaena Point on Oahu. Photos showed Army soldiers unloading suspected debris from the firefighters’ boat and personal watercraft at the harbor in the nearby town of Haleiwa.