Several Members Of SEAL Team 6 Were Among The 38 Fatally Injured

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Committee has launched an investigation of a 2011 helicopter accident in Afghanistan that fatally injured 38 people, among them 30 Americans and including several members of SEAL Team 6.

The SEAL team was involved in the raid that ended in the killing of Osama bin Laden. The accident came just three months after that raid.

The accident resulted in the highest death toll of any single incident for the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan. The Hill reports that Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on National Security, said "we're going to dive into this."

The investigation comes after Chaffetz reportedly met with some of the families of those fatally injured in the accident. He described the gathering as "emotional."

Chaffetz plans to send written questions to top Pentagon officials in an effort to learn more about the accident, and what led to it. He said hearings may come later in the process.

The helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Afghanistan. Fox News reports that some family members have suggested that the government's disclosure that SEAL Team 6 had been involved in the raid on the bin Laden compound made them an "inadvertent target."

Pentagon sources say the accident was just that. But Chaffetz says there are lingering questions, such as the disappearance of the helicopter's "black box." The device was reportedly "washed away" after the accident. Chaffetz says he finds that explanation questionable.

(Chinook helicopter pictured in file photo)

FMI: http://oversight.house.gov