Nine US soldiers killed in helicopter training crash in Kentucky

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By Webdesk


Authorities say the cause of the crash involving two Black Hawk helicopters is still under investigation.

Authorities say nine U.S. Army soldiers were killed when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed while on a training mission over Kentucky.

Four crew members were in one helicopter and five in the other during the crash in Cadiz County, Trigg County, an army spokesman said.

The aircraft were HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters operated by the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell along the Kentucky/Tennessee border. Brigadier General John Lubas, Deputy Commander of the 101st Airborne. He said there were no injuries on the ground

Lubas said the crash happened during routine night training, with the crew wearing night vision goggles. He said a specialized security team would come to the scene to review the incident.

“I think that in a short time we will have a much better understanding of what may have contributed to this accident,” Lubdas said at a press conference early Thursday.

Helicopter
Debris from a helicopter crash is pictured at the crash site in Trigg County, Kentucky [WKDZ Radio/Handout via Reuters].

“This is truly a tragic loss to our families, our division and Fort Campbell. And our number one priority is caring for the families and soldiers within our Combat Aviation Brigade.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the soldiers “will be mourned and missed by their families, by their communities.”

“We love all the people who live and work here. They are part of our community of who we are,” he said of Fort Campbell. “Their loss today is our loss.”

Members of the Kentucky Senate held a moment of silence Thursday morning to honor the victims of the crash.

“We don’t know the magnitude of what happened, but I understand it’s bad and our military has lost a lot of lives,” Senate President Robert Stivers said.

Nick Tomaszewski, who lives about a mile from the crash site, told the Associated Press news agency that he saw two helicopters fly over his house just before the crash.

“For whatever reason, last night my wife and I were sitting there looking out on the aft deck and I said, ‘Wow, those two helicopters look low and they seem pretty close together tonight,'” he said.

The helicopters flew over and looped back and moments later “we saw what looked like fireworks in the sky.”

“All the lights in their helicopter went out. It was like they just poofed… and then we saw a huge glow like a ball of fire,” Tomaszewski said.

The incident comes a month after two Tennessee National Guard pilots were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed along an Alabama highway during a training exercise.

Black Hawk helicopters have long been a critical workhorse for the U.S. military over the past several decades, providing security, transportation, medical evacuations, search and rescue, and other missions.





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