Helicopter disappears en route to California with 5 US Marines on board

The fate of the missing helicopter remains unknown (representative)

The U.S. Marine Corps said a search and rescue operation was underway Wednesday for five U.S. Marines whose helicopter failed to arrive in California as planned the day before.

The Marines were aboard a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter flying from Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in Southern California on Tuesday, “when the aircraft was struck,” the Marine Corps said in a statement. The report is overdue.”

“3rd Marine Corps is coordinating search and rescue efforts with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the Civil Air Patrol,” the statement added.

While the fate of the missing helicopter remains unknown, there have been a series of accidents involving U.S. military aircraft over the past year, including the crash of a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft off the coast of Japan in late November. Eight pilots died.

Earlier that month, five U.S. service members were killed when a helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean during a training exercise, while in August another Osprey crash in Australia killed three Marines.

In April, three military personnel were killed and one injured when two helicopters returning from a training mission in remote Alaska collided.

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