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(TRIGG COUNTY, Ky.) — All nine service members on board have died after two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a training mission in Trigg County, Kentucky, an Army official announced, calling it a “truly tragic loss.”
The Black Hawk helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division — one with five on board and another with four on board — were on a “routine training mission” when they crashed at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, Army officials said. The helicopters were “flying a multi-ship formation under night vision goggles,” officials said.
Brigadier General Lubas said the helicopters “have something very similar to the black boxes that we see on the larger aircraft, and we’re hopeful that that will provide quite a bit of information on what occurred.”
Trigg County, where the crash occurred, is about 25 miles northwest of Fort Campbell, a military installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.
Kentucky State Police troopers found the wreckage in a location described as either a field or a semi-wooded area, said Sarah Burgess, a police spokesperson.
No one else was hurt, Army officials said.
The service members’ names have not been released. Officials said they are in the process of notifying the families.
“We’re gonna wrap our arms around these families and we’re gonna be there with them,” Kentucky Gov. Andy. Beshear said at a news conference Thursday.
ABC New’s Ahmad Hemingway, Emily Shapiro, Jaclyn Lee and Matt Seyler contributed to this story.
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