WASHINGTON – Black Hawk helicopter carrying three Army National Guardmembers crashed on Thursday in Minnesota during a maintenance test flight,killing everyone on board, Gov. Tim Walz said.
Mr. Walz announced the deaths of the three crew members during a newsconference on Thursday night near the crash site.
The names of the victims were being withheld until their family memberscould be notified, according to the governor, who said that as a retiredmember of the National Guard, he was particularly affected by the news.
“As governor and as a citizen of this great state, and as a veteran of theMinnesota Army National Guard, my heart breaks for the families, thefriends and the fellow soldiers,” Mr. Walz said. “The coming days will bedark and difficult. The state of Minnesota stands ready to assist thefamilies of our fallen heroes.”ADVERTISEMENT
The Minnesota National Guard said it lost contact with the UH-60 Black Hawkaround 2:05 p.m. local time after the helicopter took off from St. Cloud,Minn.
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Officials said the cause of the accident was under investigation anddeclined to elaborate on the nature of the maintenance test flight or theage of the helicopter.
Brig. Gen. Sandra L. Best said at the news conference that “our MinnesotaNational Guard family is devastated by the death of these soldiers, and ourpriority right now is ensuring that our families are taken care of.”
A mayday signal came from the helicopter before it went down, Dan Miller,chief deputy of the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, said during an earliernews conferencelink,New York Times has reported.
