A pair of Army HH-60 Black Hawk Helicopters crashed this past Wednesday evening in Kentucky while carrying out a training exercise, resulting in the deaths of a total of nine service members.
Very few details regarding the incident have been made public other than the fact that the crash took place at roughly 10:00 p.m. local time between the two choppers that have been assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. The crash happened out in Trigg County, next to Fort Campbell.
"The crewmembers were flying two HH60 Blackhawk helicopters during a routine training mission when the incident occurred. The status of the crew members are unknown at this time," explained the 101st Airborne Division in a recent release. "The command is currently focused on caring for the servicemembers and their families."
The division first confirmed that there had been several "casualties," and one Army official later explained to ABC News that everyone who had been on board both vehicles had died.
"We’ve got some tough news out of Fort Campbell, with early reports of a helicopter crash and fatalities are expected. @kystatepolice, @KentuckyEM and local officials are responding. We will share more information as available. Please pray for all those affected," stated Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear via social media.
Bright and early Thursday morning, Beshear stated that he would be headed to Fort Campbell in response to the incident. "This morning I will be traveling to Fort Campbell to support our troops and their families after last night’s tragic incident. More information will be released later this morning," he stated.
As explained by the Kentucky State Police, the crash happened in the woods. Fort Campbell was slated to carry out a press conference Thursday morning in order to issue additional details about the incident.
Nick Tomaszewski, a Kentucky local, stated to WSMV that he heard the crash take place in the wake of seeing the helicopters fly by. "So it’s nothing out of the norm to see helicopters, we see them all the time, but tonight there were two that were coming kind of straight up over our house, headed straight northbound," he stated. "I told my wife, ‘wow, those look really close tonight’ for whatever reason … about a minute later, they were coming across and there was a large explosion in the sky almost look like a firework went off. And then the entire tree line lit up."