EGLIN AFB — After an intense search hampered by foggy conditions, the multi-agency team responding to Tuesday night’s helicopter crash transitioned from a rescue to a recovery operation on Thursday.
As of Thursday the remains of seven Marines and two soldiers had been recovered and identified, according to a press release from the National Guard,
Neither the Marine Corps nor the Louisiana National Guard had released the names of any of the victims, who were killed during a joint-forces training mission.
“We continue to ask that everyone’s thoughts and prayers be with our families,” said. Capt. Barry Morris, a spokesman for the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. “We’ve been amazed by the outpouring of support we’ve received.”
Morris also that he couldn’t recall a time when the command experienced a greater loss of life in a single incident.
The accident represents the greatest loss of life in a training accident at Eglin since the 1940s.
Responsibility for the recovery mission will shift to an official safety investigation board headed by the Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama. The same organization will be in charge of the accident investigation, which is already under way.
During a briefing on Thursday morning, Eglin Fire Chief Mark Giuliano, who has served as the incident commander during the initial response, was able to answer some questions regarding what happened the night of the crash.
Giuliano said that two Zodiac boats were on scene as part of the exercise when the accident occurred around 8:30 p.m. Because of the dense fog, no one on the boats saw what happened, Giuliano said, but they did report hearing a loud “pop.”
The captains of the boats began an immediate search of the area for possible survivors, but were hampered by the fog.
“They could only go about five miles per hour because they didn’t want to run into each other,” Giuliano said.
Giuliano was notified around 10 p.m. that there was a possible downed aircraft near Eglin’s Site A-17 east of the Navarre Beach Bridge. He arrived on the scene around 11:30 p.m., and began coordinating a multiple-agency response.
The search for the helicopter and the missing servicemen went on throughout the night. Human remains and debris from the aircraft were discovered early in the morning, but efforts to locate the bulk of the aircraft were stymied by the heavy fog and murky waters.
With the arrival of a Coast Guard vessel equipped with sonar, however, they were able to locate the wreckage, which had broken into several pieces, under about 25 feet of water.
“The Coast Guard has contacted a salvage unit out of Mobile to recover the wreckage,” Giuliano said.
Sara Vidoni, a spokesperson for Eglin, said that it would be difficult to estimate how long the recovery effort and investigation will take.
“Every investigation board is different,” she said. “There are so many factors that can affect it, including weather.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kelly Humphrey at 850-315-4443 or khumphrey@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @kellyhnwfdn.