Pentagon: 1 Dead, 8 Wounded in Army-Navy Exercise

News in Balance:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2009 -- One military member was killed and eight were injured last night after an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a Navy ship off the coast of Fort Story, Va., just north of Virginia Beach.

The crash occurred on the flight deck of the USNS Arctic around 8 p.m., and involved the Army helicopter and members of an East Coast-based naval special warfare unit, according to a statement released by the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command.

Another Army Black Hawk flew the injured servicemembers to a Norfolk, Va., hospital for treatment, the release said. The USNS Arctic returned to Naval Station Norfolk with the damaged helicopter on board.

Both Fleet Forces Command and officials from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., declined to comment further on specifics about the crash.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. More information about the soldiers involved may be available as early as today, an Army spokesman at Fort Bragg told American Forces Press Service.

(Report by Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service.)