One Crewmember Unaccounted For In The Accident

A U.S. Navy MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter has gone down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. Four of the five crewmembers on board the aircraft have been accounted for, and an SAR effort was mounted to locate the fifth.

Fox News reports that the Navy confirmed the accident via Twitter. The aircraft went down about 12 nautical miles east of Cape Henry, VA.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Navy spokesman Cmdr. Mike Kafka said the aircraft was one of a flight of two on a training mission when one was forced into an emergency ditching into the water. The second Sea Dragon dropped a raft into the water for the crew of the helo that went down.

Navy official said Wednesday afternoon that one of the crewmembers that had been recovered had died. The water temperature at the accident site was reported to be about 40 degrees, according to USA Today.

The Navy had planned to phase out the aircraft in the last decade, but lack of a viable replacement helicopter has required the Navy to continue to fly them. The Navy has invested millions of dollars to upgrade the aircraft and hire additional maintenance personnel. Twenty-nine of the aircraft are assigned to two squadrons, both based at Norfolk.

(MH-53E image from file)

FMI: www.navy.mil