Navy halts search for sailor missing in the Arabian Sea
The Navy suspended its search for a sailor who went missing after their helicopter went down in the Arabian Sea at the start of the month.
The Navy’s 5th Fleet said in a post Sunday afternoon that several ships and Air Force aircraft spent more than four days looking for the sailor, who was assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5. The sailor was one of four onboard a Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, which crashed into the water on July 1. Three crew members onboard the helicopter were recovered shortly after the crash and reported in stable condition on Wednesday. The helicopter is assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, which is deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
The missing sailor has not been identified; per Navy policy their name is being withheld until at least 24 hours after the next of kin is notified.
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The MH-60S “conducted an emergency landing” around 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. The Navy said at the time that there was no indication that the crash was due to “hostile action.” The cause of the mishap is under investigation.
“For more than 102 hours, an extensive and coordinated search and rescue effort spanning over 14,000 square miles was conducted,” the 5th Fleet said. Five destroyers, a pair of P-8 Poseidon squadrons and fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters from the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS Abraham Lincoln took part in the search operations.
The helicopter was the latest in several aircraft mishaps in the last two months, following three incidents inside the United States.
The MH-60S helicopters of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, part of Carrier Air Wing 7, regularly conduct a variety of mission ranging from troop transport, search and rescue and combat operations.
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