Three killed when U.S. Army helicopters collide in Alaska

The crash happened as the helicopters were returning from a training mission.

By Reuters April 28, 2023
607
A U.S. Army AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter is pictured under northern lights at Fort Wainwright, Alaska on January 13, 2019. (Cameron Roxberry / U.S. Army)

Three U.S. Army pilots were killed and one was injured in Alaska on Thursday when two Apache helicopters returning from a training mission collided in flight, the 11th Airborne Division of the Army said.

Two soldiers were declared dead at the scene and a third died on the way to hospital, the army unit said in a statement. The injured soldier was being treated at Alaska’s Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

The accident will be investigated by a team from the Army Combat Readiness Center in Alabama, the Division said.

Last month, nine soldiers were killed in a crash of two medical evacuation Black Hawk helicopters during a routine night training mission over Kentucky.

Reporting by Sheena K Thomas and Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru.

This article has been fact-checked by Arctic Today and Polar Research and Policy Initiative, with the support of the EMIF managed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Disclaimer: The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.