Coast Guard Helicopter Crashes in Alaska, Four Injured
Quick Look
- A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crashed during a training flight near Sitka, Alaska, on Monday, injuring four crew members.
- They were taken to a medical center with minor injuries.
- The cause is under investigation.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
A Coast Guard helicopter crashed during a routine training flight in southeast Alaska, resulting in minor injuries to four crew members. The incident follows a series of other aviation crashes this month.
Four crew members sustained minor injuries Monday when a Coast Guard helicopter crashed during a routine training flight in southeast Alaska, officials said.
The MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crashed several miles outside Sitka in a sparsely populated area near Harbor Mountain. The coastal town sits on Baranof Island. The surrounding Pacific Ocean currents limit extreme temperatures but deliver roughly 100 inches (254 centimeters) of rain every year.
Rescuers arrived around 11 a.m., about an hour after the crash, and took all four crew members to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center, a statement from the Coast Guard said.
“We are incredibly relieved our crew members survived with only minor injuries,” Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said in a statement.
The Coast Guard will investigate the crash. It's not clear what caused it.
This helicopter crash followed a string of three major plane crashes this month.
A business jet crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas, Tuesday night, killing one person on board. A B-52 crashed on June 15 during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California and killed all eight people aboard. And on June 14, 12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed.
Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer contributed to this report from Juneau, Alaska.
Open Questions
- What caused the helicopter crash?
- What is the condition of the injured crew members?
