Seven Marines and four soldiers were missing early Wednesday following an Army helicopter crash in Florida, officials said.
Aircraft debris washed up on shore after one of two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters participating in a routine nighttime training mission crashed, Eglin Air Force Base spokesman Andy Bourland told NBC News.
Bourland said a search and rescue operation was underway and that it was too soon to say what caused the crash, but there were “weather issues” overnight.
“This is search and rescue,” he stressed, adding that visibility was limited due to darkness and fog. “We have not declared the status of the 11 personnel on board at the time.”
A Coast Guard vessel recovered debris including the downed chopper’s tail rotor overnight, officials told NBC News.
The missing Marines were from a special operations regiment out of Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, Bourland said. The helicopters and air crew were assigned to the Army National Guard unit out of Hammond, Louisiana.
The downed helicopter departed from Destin, Florida, and crashed over the water. Bourland said that the second chopper on the training mission was not involved in the crash and all of its crew were accounted for. Eglin Air Force Base is located in Valparaiso, Florida — about 45 miles east of Pensacola.
