A U.S Navy helicopter crashed into the sea near the coastal area of San Diego resulting in five persons missing, one was rescued.
According to the military officials, the cause of the unfortunate crash is still unknown.
The Navy’s Third fleet released an official statement saying “the helicopter crashed into the sea at 4:30 pm local time while it was conducting routine flight operations about 60 nautical miles off the coast”. It was carrying six people; one sailor was rescued whereas the other 5 are still unaccounted for.
The initial reports suggested that the military Seahawk helicopter took off from the USS Abraham Lincoln for its routine operation but crashed a few moments later into the sea. A search and rescue operation was instigated immediately after the unfortunate crash.
The helicopter crashed is identified as MH-60S which has been in naval use since the year 2002. The helicopter which weighed 14,000 pounds had a huge range of over 245 nautical miles and was able to exceed the speed of almost 180 knots. There are approximately 250 MH-60S helicopters in use by the U.S. Navy at the moment.
According to the naval technology website, the MH-60S helicopters are registered as prime carriers to be used for a variety of purposes such as “vertical replenishment, combat search, and rescue special airfare support and airborne mine countermeasures.” The naval technology website is very helpful in giving in-depth detail about different military equipment in use.
The MH-60S Seahawk helicopter is also repeatedly used for special missions like humanitarian disaster relief, combat support, and extreme measures of search and rescue operations.
The particular helicopter was assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln firm. It is a Nimitz- class company which is an aircraft carrier in general. The company is based in San Diego.
The USS Abraham Lincoln released an official statement on their Facebook page condemning the accident and calling the crash an unfortunate “tragedy”.
The Navy also stated that “search and rescue operations are ongoing with multiple Coast Guard and Navy air and surface assets.”
The Naval Air Command stated that the search efforts are going on to find the missing individuals. As per the reports, the helicopter was in this routine flight operation which was supposed to be held 60 nautical miles away from the coast of San Diego.
