2015 Eglin Air Force Base helicopter crash

2015 Eglin Air Force Base helicopter crash
Accident summary
Date March 10, 2015 (2015-03-10)
Site Off the coast of the Florida Panhandle
Passengers 7
Crew 4
Fatalities 11 (all)
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk
Operator United States Army

On March 10, 2015, a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter of the United States Army crashed off the coast of the Florida Panhandle during a training exercise at Eglin Air Force Base,[1] killing all eleven people on board. The helicopter was reported missing during foggy conditions at 8:30 PM.[2] The helicopter was assigned to the 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion in Hammond, Louisiana.[3]

Passengers and crew

There were eleven people on board the helicopter at the time, of whom seven were U.S Marines and four were U.S Army soldiers .[3] The Marines on the helicopter were assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Search

Debris from the crash was found on March 11 at 2 AM around Okaloosa Island.[2] The ongoing search for the passengers, which is focused on waters east of Navarre, Florida,[2] has been hampered by heavy fog in the area.[3] On the morning of March 11, a spokesman for the Eglin Air Force Base said that human remains had been found in the area of the search.[4] As of March 12, the bodies of two soldiers on board the helicopter had been recovered.[5]

By March 17, 2015, all 11 bodies from the crash on Navarre Beach had been recovered and identified.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Botelho, Greg (March 11, 2015). "U.S. military helicopter crashes off northwest Florida; human remains found". CNN. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Botelho, Greg (March 11, 2015). "U.S. military helicopter crashes off northwest Florida". CNN. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Eleven missing after US army helicopter crash in Florida". BBC. March 11, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  4. ↑ Phillip, Abby (March 11, 2015). "Human remains found in search for 11 service members involved in helicopter crash". Washington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ Robinson, Kevin (12 March 2015). "At least 2 bodies recovered from helicopter crash". USA Today. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Kevin Robinson (March 17, 2015). "Last of soldiers killed in crash recovered". Pensacola News Journal. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
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