Four Marines are dead after their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during a routine training mission near El Centro, California, on Tuesday.
The Marines are from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
“Four crew members were aboard the aircraft. The status of all four is presumed dead pending positive identification,” the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said in a press release.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. The Marines have not been identified yet, pending notification of next of kin.
This deadly crash comes the same day a Marine Corps jet crashed in Djibouti, but the pilot was able to eject and is currently in stable condition and being treated for injuries.
This would be the deadliest crash for the Marine Corps since last July, when six Marines and one Navy sailor from Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), and nine service members from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 452, were among the 16 deceased service members following a Marine Corps KC-130 crash over a soybean field in Mississippi.
The refueling plane crash was caused by a mishap, and the plane reportedly “disintegrated” in the air over the field.
