- A pair of US military helicopters crashed into each other over Kentucky on Wednesday night.
- An Army statement said that the incident had occurred during a "routine training mission."
A pair of US military helicopters crashed into each other over Kentucky on Wednesday night, killing all nine soldiers aboard, a US Army official confirmed.
The two HH60 Black Hawk helicopters collided at around 10 p.m., the US Army Fort Campbell base said in a statement to Insider early Thursday. It said the flights were part of a "routine training mission."
A spokesperson for the 101st Airborne Division confirmed to Insider on Thursday morning that nine of their soldiers — all of whom were based at Fort Campbell — were killed in the crash.
The two helicopters — which were medical evacuation variants — were flying a training progression in "multi-ship formation" under night-vision goggles, a US Army official told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. One helicopter was carrying five soldiers during the mission, and the other held four.
The official said it's believed that the accident occurred when the helicopters were flying, not during medical evacuation drills. He added that after the accident, the helicopters crashed into an open field across from a residential area.
A safety team from Fort Rucker in Alabama is on its way to Kentucky to investigate the crash, the official added, noting that the team is expected to arrive at some point on Thursday. It is not immediately clear what led to the incident.
"Everything we do, safety is integrated into this," the official said. "When we do any training — but especially aviation training — they do very, very detailed planning, very detailed rehearsals."
"Safety is a primary focus for us," he added.
After the crash, the 101st Airborne Division quickly confirmed that there were several casualties and said it was focused on "caring" for the service members and their families.
Kentucky politicians, including the state's governor Andy Beshear and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, wrote on social media asking for prayers in support of the soldiers involved.
"Kentucky, join me in praying for our service members and their families after an incident at Fort Campbell last night. @GovAndyBeshear is traveling there now, and we will share more information as available," the state's Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman tweeted Thursday morning.
The division is based at southeastern Kentucky's Fort Campbell, which is located in Trigg County along the Kentucky-Tennessee border, about an hour's drive from Nashville. The 101st airborne is the only specialized air-assault division in the US Army and has in recent years been deployed in operations in Iraq and Syria.
According to the US Army, the H60 is used in assaults, medical evacuations and special operations and can carry around 11 people.