On Wednesday night, two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters collided over Kentucky, resulting in the deaths of all nine service members aboard.
Officials from Fort Campbell shared in a press release that the two helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division crashed during a training exercise near a residential area at around 10 p.m. One helicopter had five people on board, and the other had four.
Photographs from the crash site showed a large fireball, which was put out by the East Golden Pond Fire Department.
Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear confirmed the news on Twitter and later traveled to Fort Campbell to support the servicemembers and their families. He stated that the incident had not occurred during medical evacuation drills and that the command was currently focused on caring for the servicemembers and their families.
Military officials are still in the process of notifying the service members’ families, and the investigation is still ongoing. They plan to use recording devices similar to black boxes to gain more insight into the cause of the crash.
No radio calls for help were reported and no additional casualties were reported.