Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Kills 11 (Updates)

Aug 21, 2012 by DORIAN DE WIND, Military Affairs Columnist

UPDATE II:

The Department of Defense announced today the names of the of seven service members who died Aug. 16 in the Black Hawk helicopter crash northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Killed were:

Chief Warrant Officer Brian D. Hornsby, 37, of Melbourne, Fla., assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii;

Chief Warrant Officer Suresh N. A. Krause, 29, of Cathedral City, Calif., assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii;

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Petty Officer Technician 1st Class Sean P. Carson, 32, of Des Moines, Wash., assigned to an explosive ordnance disposal mobile unit in San Diego;

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick D. Feeks, 28, of Edgewater, Md., assigned to a West Coast-based naval special warfare unit;

Sgt. Richard A. Essex, 23, of Kelseyville, Calif., assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii;

Sgt. Luis A. Oliver Galbreath, 41, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 2nd Class David J. Warsen, 27, of Kentwood, Mich., assigned to a West Coast-based naval Special warfare unit.

UPDATE I :

The New York Times provides some more details on yesterday’s fatal Black Hawk helicopter crash in Kandahar Province, Southern Afghanistan:

• Seven American soldiers and three Afghan soldiers and an interpreter were killed

• A spokesman for the Taliban said the group had shot down the helicopter, but American officials said there was no indication yet that enemy fire was the cause.

• American military officials declined to identify the type of unit to which the soldiers killed in the crash on Thursday had been assigned. However, a statement issued by the NATO command said three of them were part of United States Forces-Afghanistan, a command separate from the main NATO force that includes many Special Operations forces.

• Maj. Martyn Crighton of the Army, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command in Kabul, said it was not yet clear whether mechanical failure or Taliban fire was responsible.

Original Post:

American Forces Press Service brings us some tragic news, again:

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2012 – Eleven people were killed today when their International Security Assistance Force helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan, ISAF officials reported.

The crash killed four ISAF service members, three U.S. Afghanistan service members, three members of the Afghan national security forces and an Afghan civilian interpreter, officials said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, and ISAF policy defers casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities

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