All Four On Board Killed

Four US Marines aboard a UH-1 helicopter were killed when it went down at Camp Pendleton (CA) Thursday night. It was an especially hard blow for members of Pendleton's aviation unit. Three of their own were killed in a UH-1N crash in Iraq last March.

"This certainly is a tragedy, and we hope we are able to assist the families of the victims during this time," Maj. T.V. Johnson said.

The aircraft was in a cargo configuration during the training run Thursday night. It went down in a remote, hilly part of the base near Interstate 5 and San Clemente.

"The aircraft itself was a total loss," Capt. Shawn Turner said from Washington. He said the the identities of those killed were being withheld pending notification of their relatives. Three crewmembers were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth died approximatly two hours after the 7:00 pm PST crash.

A San Diego television station reported the Huey struck power lines near the interstate, but Johnson refused to say if that was indeed the cause of the crash. "I'm not going into speculating on what may or may have happened."

FMI: www.cpp.usmc.mil