US Black Hawk helicopter crashes off Yemen coast

U.S. Central Command said in a statement that five other service members aboard the aircraft had been rescued after the crash, which took place about 20 miles (32 km) off the southern coast of Yemen at 7 p.m. (16000 GMT).

A U.S. official told Reuters that the cause of the crash was under investigation.

“When the incident took place the helicopter was not very high above the water,” CENTCOM spokesman Colonel John Thomas said.

There have been a number of aviation mishaps involving U.S military aircraft in the past few months.

The U.S. Coast Guard recently said that it had suspended its search off Hawaii for five Army aviators missing since their Black Hawk helicopter crashed earlier this month.

In April, a Black Hawk U.S. Army helicopter crashed on a Maryland golf course, killing one crewmember and seriously injuring two others.

Last month, a military transport plane crash killing 16 service members including elite special operations forces in northern Mississippi.

The United States has been aiding and abetting the Saudi regime in its aggression against Yemen, with at least 80 launched since the end of February.

Yemen’s defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the coalition for more than two years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Over 12,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.


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