Coast Guard helicopter crashes: 1 dead, 3 missing (UPDATES)
Chief Petty Officer John Linnborn aboard an MH-65C Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, Wash., takes part in a training session in this handout photo from the US Coast Guard. An MH-65 crashed near Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday.
One person is dead and three people are missing after a Coast Guard helicopter crashed into Mobile Bay in Alabama late Tuesday.
The MH-65 Dolphin helicopter went down during a training mission, the Mobile Press-Register reported.
A rescue team pulled one crewmember out of the water, but he was unresponsive, and they were unable to revive him, the Associated Press reported. He was later declared dead, the Coast Guard said.
Capt. Don Rose, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Mobile, said the man who died was the helicopter crew's rescue swimmer, the AP reported. The pilot, co-pilot and flight mechanic remain missing.
Overnight, two more MH-65 choppers, a fixed-wing HU-144 and crews from Alabama Marine Resources and Mobile County Sheriff’s Flotilla searched for the missing crew, Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Elizabeth Bordelon said.
“This is our family that we’re talking about,” she told the Press-Register.
Their efforts were hampered by fog and darkness, however, and the rescuers intensifed their search when the sun came up on Wednesday morning, CNN reported.
The flight took off from the Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Reuters reported.
The aircraft crashed about 8:30 p.m. ET. Those first on the scene transported the rescued crewmember to a local hospital.
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Reports say the helicopter hit the water about three miles southwest of Point Clear, Ala.
Conditions appeared to be normal at the time of the crash, with water temperatures about 63 F and a slight breeze, the Al.com said.
The water that far off shore is about 13 feet deep.
According to the USCG, the MH-65 is a short-range recovery helicopter used for search and rescue, law enforcement and homeland security missions.
First introduced to the USCG in the mid-1980s, the aircraft seats 4 with a cruising speed of 160 knots and a range of 150 nautical miles. It boasts a .50-caliber rifle, 7.62-mm machine gun and chemical and radiological defense equipment, the USGC website says.
According to a fact sheet, the Coast Guard expected to use 102 MH-65s, which they anticipate lasting until 2027.
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