By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times (TNS)
HOUSTON — Four crew members on an Army helicopter were killed when it crashed Monday evening at Fort Hood in central Texas, officials said.
The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down sometime after 5:49 p.m. in the northeastern part of the massive Army post.
Emergency crews conducted “an extensive search” and reported that all four crew members were found dead.
A statement released early Tuesday said the crew had been assigned to Division West, First Army and were on a routine training mission. The names of the crew members will be released after their families have been notified, the statement said.
The cause of the crash remained unknown.
Located between Dallas and San Antonio, Fort Hood is one of the Army’s largest posts, with a population of about 218,000 and its own businesses, parks, schools and churches. It is home to the 1st Cavalry Division and the West Division of the First Army as well as other units, including the Headquarters Command III Corps, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and 3rd Air Support Operations Group.
Monday’s incident was the latest crash this year at U.S. military installations.
In May, two Marines aboard a MV-22 Osprey died after it experienced a “hard landing mishap” at Hawaii’s Bellows Air Force Station. In March, 11 service members were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter aborted its training mission due to bad weather and then crashed off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.
Photo: Texas Military Forces fly over Fort Hood. Texas Military Forces/Flickr
