Two US Army helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers on board, a general said on Thursday.
\nThe helicopters \u2014 variants of the Black Hawk designed for medical evacuation \u2014 were taking part in a routine training mission the night before when the crash occurred, Brigadier General John Lubas told a news conference.
\nIt \u201cresulted in the death of all nine service members aboard the aircraft,\u201d all of them members of the 101st Airborne Division, which is based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, he said.
\nFive soldiers were on one helicopter and four on another, Lubas said, noting that the military is still working to notify all the families of those killed.
\nThe helicopters \u2014 which were flying in formation with the pilots using night vision goggles \u2014 were able to land in an open field across from a residential area, avoiding deaths or injuries on the ground, he said.
\nWith an investigative team heading to Fort Campbell from the base where US Army Aviation is headquartered in Alabama, it was still unknown whether the two helicopters collided.
\n\u201cWe have a safety team coming \u2026 from Fort Rucker, Alabama who specialise in aircraft safety and specifically these investigations,\u201d Lubas said.
\nKentucky Governor Andy Beshear mourned the lost soldiers and praised those who responded to the crash.
\n\u201cWe are blessed to live in the freest country in the history of planet Earth. But we must remember that that freedom relies on those who are willing to serve, some of which pay the ultimate price,\u201d the governor told the news conference.
\n\u2018Just disappeared\u2019
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to do what we always do. We\u2019re going to wrap our arms around these families. We\u2019re going to be there with them, not just for the days but the weeks and the months and the years to come,\u201d Beshear said.
\nMSNBC quoted a local resident who witnessed the crash.
\n\u201cTwo helicopters just disappeared out of the sky. There was a large flash,\u201d Nick Tomaszewski said, adding that another helicopter circled the area for about 30 minutes before ambulances arrived.
\nThere have been multiple crashes of US military aircraft in recent years, including another involving a Black Hawk that killed two Tennessee National Guardsmen during a training flight Alabama in February.
\nFour US Marines were killed during Nato exercises in Norway last year when their V-22B Osprey aircraft went down, possibly after hitting a mountain, investigators said.
\nAnd two US Navy pilots were rescued after their T-45C Goshawk jet crashed during a training exercise in a residential neighborhood near Fort Worth, Texas in 2021. The pilots ejected before the plane went down.
\nThe 101st Airborne Division is the US Army\u2019s only air assault division.
\nNicknamed the \u201cScreaming Eagles,\u201d it was activated in August 1942 and gained renown during World War II in the D-Day landings and the Battle of the Bulge. More recently the division has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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