Pentagon: 7 dead in U.S. helicopter crash
BEIRUT — A U.S. military helicopter crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, killing all seven people on board, the Pentagon confirmed yesterday.
In a statement issued yesterday, the U.S. Central Command said the aircraft, an HH-60 Pave Hawk, crashed at approximately 6:45 p.m. local time near the town of Qaim in Iraq’s Anbar province.
Military officials said that the crash did not appear to be the result of enemy activity and that the incident was under investigation.
An accompanying U.S. helicopter reported the crash, according to the Pentagon, and a quick reaction force of Iraqi and U.S. troops secured the site.
Quoting a witness, Iraqi news broadcaster Al Sumaria reported yesterday that the aircraft had fallen near a phosphate factory outside Qaim.
Qaim is roughly 10 miles southeast of Iraq’s border with Syria. The area, a desolate landscape of open desert that stretches for miles, has long been a sanctuary of jihadis fighting in both Iraq and Syria.
Though it has largely been defeated elsewhere, Islamic State maintains a presence near Qaim, where it can also access the Saudi border.
U.S. forces are working alongside Iraqi troops in a base near Qaim as well as at the Ein Assad airbase, roughly 90 miles southeast of where the helicopter was reported to have crashed. In recent weeks, there have been reports of clashes between the extremists and U.S.-backed Iraqi forces between Qaim and the Saudi border.
The HH-60 is a highly modified variant of the Black Hawk helicopter, used primarily for “day or night personnel recovery operations into hostile environments to recover isolated personnel during war,” according to the U.S. Air Force.
A U.S. official said the helicopter was not engaged in combat activity but had been transporting elements between locations.
The official added that there had been no recent incidents of aircraft damaged by ground fire in the area, and that the crash had almost certainly been caused by the helicopter hitting an obstruction.
The names of those killed will be released by the Pentagon after next of kin have been notified, Central Command said.