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US Black Hawk missing in Hawaii, search underway for crew

17 August 2017 00:22 (UTC +04:00)

A search is underway for five crew members who were aboard a US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that went down late Tuesday during a training mission two miles off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, APA reports quoting sputniknews.

A call came in to US Coast Guard officials in Honolulu around 10:08 p.m. local time Tuesday night from from Wheeler Army Airfield saying that communication had been lost with one of two 25th Combat Aviation Brigade Black Hawk crews that were training between Kaena Point and Dillingham Airfield.

25th Infantry Division spokesman Lt. Col. Curtis Kellogg said the two UH-60 crews were conducting a night training mission when the second aircraft lost visual and audio contact with the first.

The Coast Guard issued an emergency marine broadcast and launched a rescue operation with assistance from the Honolulu Fire Department (HFD). In a news release published Wednesday morning, the Coast Guard said, "A debris field was spotted near Kaena Point by the Coast Guard Hercules and Army Black Hawk aircrews at 11:28 p.m. Tuesday. Responders are currently searching for the five missing aircrewmen," according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Honolulu Fire Battalion Chief Paul Fukuda told Hawaii News Now, "We found some debris and we recovered some debris, we cannot determine where it's from. It's so spread out and with the darkness, it's hard to say how big the debris field was."