Day after Osprey crash, U.S. Navy helicopter goes down in California. All 4 aboard survive
A day after five Marines died when their aircraft crashed in Southern California, a Navy helicopter crashed in the same region on Thursday. All aboard the chopper survived.
The Naval Air Facility El Centro in Imperial County, Calif., said all four of the crew on board the helicopter survived the crash. One servicemember suffered a non-life-threatening injury and was taken to a local hospital, said Cmdr. Zach Harrell.
Harrell confirmed the helicopter involved was an MH-60S Seahawk. That type of chopper is primarily used for anti-surface warfare, combat support and humanitarian disaster relief, according to the Naval Air Systems Command. It was not clear what caused the crash.
The crash happened on a U.S. Navy training range near the California-Arizona border about 35 miles north of Yuma.
3rd crash in less than a week
It was the third crash of a military aircraft in Southern California in less than a week.
On Wednesday, the five Marines were killed when an MV-22B Osprey crashed near the community of Glamis around 12:30 p.m., in what was described as an "aviation mishap" by 1st Lt. Duane Kampa in a news release.
The Marines have not been publicly identified but Kampa reported they were part of the Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing out of Camp Pendleton. The cause has not been disclosed.
On June 3, U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Richard Bullock was killed when his F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed in the vicinity of Trona.
This is a developing story and will be updated. Check back for more details soon.
Desert Sun staff writers Jonathan Horwitz and Julie Makinen contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Navy helicopter crashes in Imperial County, all aboard survive
