The crash happened less than a year after a Marine Corps tilt-rotor aircraft crashed during a training exercise in Hawaii, killing two Marines.
Advertisement
“It’s very hard to find things right now”, Carr said.
According to the Coast Guard, responders were conducting search and rescue operations approximately seven miles offshore, and local residents were cautioned about debris in the current.
The wide-ranging search for the Marines was hampered by high surf and poor visibility from rainstorms. A Marine officer visited her at home to brief her. Campbell has a wife and four children, and has done three tours of duty in the Middle East.
There was no immediate word on what had caused the collision or if any survivors have been found.
Two Coast Guard cutters and several Coast Guard aircraft were searching, along with two U.S. Navy warships and local police and fire department helicopters, the Coast Guard said.
A civilian on a beach who reported the crash to the Coast Guard saw the helicopters flying then disappear amid a fireball.
Family members of a Marine they believe was aboard one of two helicopters that collided off Hawaii are holding out hope that he survived. We believe the Marines and Coast Guard are doing everything they can to bring Kevin and his fellow Marines home safely and we are grateful to everyone involved in the rescue.
“We can confirm there are 12 Marines now unaccounted for as a result of this incident, and officials will provide more details as they become available”.
A representative for the church said the family remains hopeful that the Marine will be found alive, and took to social media on Friday to ask people to pray with them.
“One of the United States Marines who was aboard one of the helicopters and is now missing is a member of that family”, said state police spokesman David Procopio. Devine informed that the U.S. Coast Guard continued the search for survivors in spite of the risky weather conditions. Boater access to the small boat harbor is limited, with entry roads to the harbor, one boat launch ramp and a trailer parking area are blocked as emergency vehicles and search helicopters are using the harbor premises.
The helicopters that crashed were attached to the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 of the service’s 1st Marine Air Wing in Hawaii.
Carr says 10 to 12 knot winds and breaking surf up to 30 feet are complicating search and rescue efforts. The MV-22 Osprey went down last May with 21 Marines and a Navy corpsman on board.
Advertisement
In March 2011, a CH-53 Sea Stallion crashed on the sandbar in Kaneohe Bay.
