Seven Marines and four
soldiers were missing early Wednesday following an Army helicopter crash in
Florida, officials said.
The
servicemen were aboard one of two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters participating in
a routine training mission which went down off the coast.
"We
have found some human remains," Eglin Air Force Base spokesman Andy
Bourland told NBC News. He said he did not have further details on the
identities or number.
Earlier,
senior U.S. military officials said they feared all 11 service members had
died.
Some
aircraft debris also has washed ashore, Bourland said. He told NBC News that a
search and rescue operation was ongoing — though poor visibility and fog was
hampering efforts. It was too soon to say what caused the crash, but there were
"weather issues" overnight, Bourland added.
A
Coast Guard vessel recovered debris including the downed chopper's tail rotor
overnight, officials told NBC News.
The
missing Marines were from a special operations regiment out of Camp LeJeune in
North Carolina, Bourland said. The helicopters and air crew were assigned to
the Army National Guard unit out of Hammond, Louisiana.
Names
of the aircrew and Marines on board the aircraft are being withheld pending
notification of their families, the military said.
The
downed helicopter departed from Destin, Florida, and crashed over the water.
Bourland said that the second chopper on the training mission was not involved
in the crash and all of its crew were accounted for. Eglin Air Force Base is
located in Valparaiso, Florida — about 45 miles east of Pensacola.
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