US helicopter crashes on troop transport route

California CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter carrying five US Marines lost contact en route from Nevada to California.

The US Marine Corps announced on February 7 that rescuers had found a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter a day after it went missing in the Pine Valley area east of San Diego, California.

However, they have not yet determined the location of the five soldiers who were on board the helicopter at the time of the crash. US officials have not announced the condition of the aircraft when it was found.

According to the original plan, the CH-53E Super Stallion carried five servicemen from Creech Air Force Base in Clark County, Nevada to the US Marine Corps Miramar Air Base in San Diego on the night of February 6.

A CH-53E military helicopter operates off the coast of Oman during a patrol with the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in July 2019. Photo: USMC

The US Marine Corps requested a search and rescue operation at around 1am on February 7 after the helicopter failed to arrive at Miramar Air Base on schedule. The helicopter’s last recorded location was about an hour and a half earlier, in the Cleveland National Forest near the US-Mexico border.

The area is rugged and covered in heavy snow, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Local police were unable to deploy helicopters to join the search on the morning of February 7 due to cloud cover.

In addition to the Marines, the search operation also involved San Diego police and US Border Patrol aviation. Efforts to locate the victim were hampered by severe rain and snow in the mountains of Southern California.

President Joe Biden has received an initial briefing on the missing military helicopter and the progress of the search and rescue operation, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Thanh Danh (According to CBS )

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