Search underway after Marine helicopters crash off Oahu

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Mooers has told The Associated Press news agency that each aircraft had six people aboard.

Two US Marine Corps heavy-lift helicopters is said have collided in mid-air and then ditched in the water north of the island of Oahu today.

The cause of the accident is under investigation by the Marine Corps. The wreckage was strewn over a 2-mile area, Marine Captain Timothy Irish said.

Rather, a civilian on the beach first notified authorities of seeing a fireball, followed by a second person reporting a flare, Carr said.

The U.S. Coast Guard searched Friday for survivors seven miles offshore but were hampered by bad weather.

The helicopters crashed into the ocean on Friday, January 15, more precisely late on Thursday just before midnight, about two miles away from the shore.

Loved ones have identified to CNN three Marines missing in the crash, and a CNN affiliate has reported on a fourth missing Marine.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday the search now covers waters off Waianae in addition to the north shore. Christopher Orlando of Hingham, Massachusetts, said it was grateful for people’s prayers.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Kiska (WPB-1336) and Ahi (WPB-87634), stationed out of Hilo and Honolulu, respectively, as well as an MH-65 helicopter and an HC-130 Hercules aircraft are searching the waters around the island.

“It was incredibly emotional for me to talk to Michael and just try to handle logistics of where you’re going to stay, what you are going to eat, how you are going to get to and from the airport thinking in the greater scheme of things they may have just lost their son”, Jennifer Magerer of Luke’s Wings told Fox 9.

The Coast Guard says a safety zone has been established between Kaena Point and Turtle Bay, though “with 10-12 knot winds, swells at 16 feet, and breaking surf at 30 feet, it’s moving the debris all over the place”, Carr noted.

The Coast Guard initially reported that the helicopters had collided, but Capt Irish said it was not clear what happened. The MV-22 Osprey went down last May with 21 Marines and a Navy corpsman on board.

In 2011, one serviceman was killed and three others were injured when a CH-53D Sea Stallion chopper crashed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Our family would like everyone to know this is not about us.