BAGHDAD, Iraq - A Marine helicopter carrying 16 people made an emergency landing in a lake in a volatile province west of Baghdad, killing one and leaving three missing, the military said Monday.
Twelve passengers survived the crash Sunday in Anbar province, according to a statement. The military said a Marine was pulled from the water but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, while three other service members were listed as "duty status unknown."
The military said the incident did not appear to be due to enemy action but was still being investigated.
Phrog???
Al
CBS showed a Phrog flying during this report. Was it indeed a Phrog?:confused:
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. >> The father of an Kaneohe-based Marine said his son was among four killed yesterday when a helicopter made an emergency landing in a lake in Anbar, Iraq.
Maj. Trane McCloud, 39, was killed when a Sea Knight helicopter carrying 16 Marines went down, his father, Ron McCloud, told The Associated Press today.
Twelve passengers survived; a Marine was pulled from the water but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. The bodies of three missing Marines were found in a subsequent search, the military said.
Military officials said the helicopter had experienced mechanical problems and was not hit by gunfire. The names of the victims have not yet been released to the public.
“He was a fine young man, loved the Marines, and was the kind they (the Marines) look for,” Ron McCloud told the Elizabethton Star. “He was a real patriot.”
McCloud served almost 17 years with the Marines and began his tour in Iraq in September. Ron McCloud said his son has a wife and three children who live in Oahu, Hawaii, at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base.
The Marines died in Anbar — a province the size of North Carolina that stretches west from Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — where many of Iraq’s Sunni Arab insurgent groups are based. A U.S. fighter jet crashed last week in a field in the region, killing the Air Force pilot.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16035005/
Updated: 1:59 p.m. ET Dec 4, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A Sea Knight helicopter carrying 16 Marines went down in a lake west of the Iraqi capital in Anbar, killing four of them in the volatile province where an Air Force fighter jet crashed last week, the military said Monday.
The twin-rotor CH-46 helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing made the emergency landing Sunday near the shore of Lake Qadisiyah “in which the pilots maintained control of the aircraft the entire time,” the military said.
It said the helicopter had experienced mechanical problems and was not hit by gunfire.
3 Dec 06 (HMM-165) CH-46E landed in water. Passengers and Crew Chiefs exited into water prior to aircraft water entry. One Fatal Injury to passenger, 3 passengers missing.
Local Marines first on crash site
Publish Date: 12/08/06
By Alison Walker-Baird
News-Post Staff
FREDERICK -- Local Marines deployed to Iraq helped rescue surviving passengers and recover service members' bodies Sunday after a helicopter crash-landed nearby, killing four U.S. troops.
Dam Support Unit 3, a reserve unit from Fort Detrick, is stationed near the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates River. A power malfunction forced the helicopter to make an emergency landing on Lake Qadisiyah, a reservoir behind the dam in the Al Anbar province.
Four boats of DSU-3 Marines responded immediately after the helicopter landed. None of the DSU-3 Marines were on board the helicopter, unit spokesman U.S. Marine Capt. Christian Devine said.
Marines involved described the water as rough, which makes recovery challenging, and extremely cold, he said.
Maj. Michael Stolzenburg, the unit's commanding officer, said he was proud his Marines' response and recovery efforts prevented more lives from being lost, according to Capt. Devine.
DSU-3 is part of Regimental Combat Team-7 in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and was previously designated Bravo Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. The unit deployed in October.
Most members are patrolling and securing Iraqi waterways throughout Haditha and the Euphrates River Valley. Some are conducting security operations in Ramadi in the Al Anbar province.
The CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing was carrying 16 passengers when it landed. Twelve passengers survived.
The incident is under investigation, but officials said they do not believe the crash was the result of enemy action.
The helicopter began to lose power after lifting off from the dam. Passengers were evacuated from the back of the downed aircraft and the helicopter glided across the water and used a boat ramp to get onshore.
One Marine was pulled from the water after the crash, but efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, the military said.
The bodies of three service members were recovered Monday.
Pentagon officials have released the names of the service members whose bodies were recovered: U.S. Air Force Capt. Kermit Evans, 31, of Hollandale, Miss., who was assigned to a special forces unit from Fort Campbell, Ky.; U.S. Army Spc. Dustin M. Adkins, 22, of Finger, Tenn., who was assigned to a unit from Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico; and U.S. Marine Maj. Joseph T. McCloud, 39, of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., and Cpl. Joshua C. Sticklen, 24, of Virginia Beach, Va., both assigned to the 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
It is not clear whether Cpl. Sticklen or Maj. McCloud was the Marine pulled from the water Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=54658