Nine service members die in helicopter collision

Two Black Hawk helicopters crashed Wednesday night near Fort Campbell in Kentucky during a routine training exercise, killing all nine service members aboard. Four medical evacuation helicopters were participating in the training, said 101st Airborne Division spokesman Staff Sgt. Joshua Tverberg. One was flying ahead of the two that went down and the fourth had stopped to refuel. The helicopters went down in an empty field near a residential area.

Why did they crash? The Army deployed an aircraft safety team from Fort Rucker, Alabama, on Wednesday to investigate, said Deputy Commander of Operations General John Lubas. So far, the cause is unknown, Lubas said. Nick Tomaszewski, who lives near the crash site, said he and his wife saw the Black Hawk helicopters flying low and closer together than normal—the helicopters often fly over, he said. They saw what looked like fireworks and a huge ball of fire as they went down, Tomaszewski said.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Kyle Ziemnick’s report in The Sift on Boeing’s response to issues with its 737 Max jets.