3 Soldiers Killed in Army Helicopter Crash in Alaska

(KPRC-TV via AP)

Tragic news out of Healy, Alaska: On Thursday, three soldiers were killed and a fourth was injured when two U.S. Army helicopters collided while returning from a training flight.

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Two of the soldiers died at the scene of the crash near Healy, Alaska, and a third died on the way to a hospital in Fairbanks. A fourth soldier was being treated at a hospital for injuries, the Army said in a statement.

Each AH-64 Apache helicopter was carrying two people at the time of the crash, John Pennell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Alaska, said earlier Thursday.

The helicopters were from the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright, based near Fairbanks.

The crash comes less than a month after two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers aboard. That crash occurred during a routine training mission. And that followed a February Tennessee National Guard Black Hawk helicopter crash in Huntsville, Alabama, in which two pilots were killed.

Thursday’s crash is the second in Alaska involving military helicopters this year.

In February, two soldiers were injured when an Apache helicopter rolled after taking off from Talkeetna. The aircraft was one of four traveling to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage from Fort Wainwright.

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Healy sits near the Denali National Park and Preserve.

Healy is a community of about 1,000 people located on the Parks Highway in Alaska’s interior region. It is a popular place for people to spend the night while visiting the nearby park, which is home to Denali, the continent’s tallest mountain.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. Per the U.S. Army Times:

Investigators from the Army Combat Readiness Center, the service‘s safety authority at Fort Novosel, Alabama, will probe the crash.

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