US Air Force helicopter crashes in England, killing 4

A U.S. Air Force helicopter crashed in an eastern England coastal marsh during a training mission Tuesday night, killing all four crew members aboard, officials said.

The Pave Hawk chopper – a modified version of the better-known Black Hawk – went down near Salthouse on the Norfolk coast, according to a U.S. Air Force statement. The aircraft was based at the nearby U.K. Royal Air Force station in Lakenheath, which hosts USAF personnel. 

The helicopter was flying low at the time of the incident, the statement said.

A U.S. defense official in Washington said the crash killed the four U.S. Air Force crew members on board. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the crash publicly. 

Officials have blocked off the scene to conduct an investigation.

"In order to carry out a thorough investigation in a safe manner, the area will remain cordoned off with no access for the general public," said Chief Superintendent Bob Scully of Norfolk Constabulary.

"We will be working with our partners at the Ministry of Defence, Air Accident Investigation Branch and US Air Force to gather all evidence from the scene and then recover the aircraft."

Norfolk County police said that they believe there was ammunition on board the helicopter. Apart from the crew, no one was put in any danger, police said. 

Pave Hawks, often used for combat search and rescue missions, typically practice flying low and fast. The craft have been deployed in many U.S. overseas missions, including to Japan in the wake of the tsunami in 2011 and to support operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The Associated Press