US military helicopter carrying 4 soldiers crashes in Washington state
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The main entrance at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state in March. A US Army helicopter went down on Sept 17 near it, according to the US Army.
PHOTO: GRANT HINDSLEY/NYTIMES
Victor Mather, Mark Walker and Jonathan Wolfe
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WASHINGTON – A US Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying four special operations soldiers crashed in a rural area near a military base in western Washington state on the night of Sept 17, officials said in a statement.
The US Army did not release the conditions of those aboard the helicopter. The cause of the crash is being investigated.
The pilots were on a routine training flight when the aircraft, an MH-60 Black Hawk assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, went down about 9pm (9am on Sept 18, Singapore time). This was near Summit Lake in a rural area in western Washington near the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where the helicopter was based, according to the US Army.
Emergency crews faced challenges reaching the site of the crash because of dense trees and the remoteness of the location, US Army officials said.
“It’s very rural and it was hard to get to and we don’t know what happened,” Lieutenant Colonel Allie Scott, a spokesperson with the US Army, said on Sept 18. “There is so much unknown.”
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said that the base had lost contact with a helicopter and that it had located the scene of the crash.
The Lacey Police Department said that it responded to the crash on the morning of Sept 18 and sent a drone to the site, where it came across a brush fire.
“Deputies have located the crash site but have been unable to continue rescue efforts as the scene is on fire and is starting to overheat their footwear,” Sheriff Derek Sanders of Thurston County said on social media. NYTIMES
