This handout picture released by the US Navy on May 9, 2019 shows an MH-60R Sea Hawk Helicopter, assigned to the Grandmasters of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 46 aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) as it takes off from the ships flight deck. Nitze is underway as part of Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (ABECSG). The US is deploying an amphibious assault ship and a Patriot missile battery to bolster an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers already sent to the Gulf, ratcheting up pressure on Iran. The USS Arlington, which transports marines, amphibious vehicles, conventional landing craft and rotary aircraft, and the Patriot air defence system will join the Abraham Lincoln carrier group, the Pentagon announced on May 10. (Photo by Madysson Anne Ritter / Navy Office of Information / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO /US NAVY” – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
Two US Navy aircraft crashed into the South China Sea in separate incidents on Sunday, officials said, with no fatalities reported.
The first crash involved a MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, which “went down in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz,” according to a statement from the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet.
All three crew members aboard the helicopter were recovered by search and rescue teams, the statement said.
A half-hour later, according to the Navy, a Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet crashed into the South China Sea, also “while conducting routine operations” from the USS Nimitz.
The Navy’s statement said both crew members aboard ejected themselves from the vessel and were safely recovered.
“All personnel involved are safe and in stable condition,” the US Navy said. “The cause of both incidents is currently under investigation.”
The crashes come as US President Donald Trump is in the region, on his first visit to Asia of his second term, and as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepares to also begin a multi-country Asian tour.
Earlier this year, two US warplanes fell off the US Navy’s Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier while operating in the Middle East.
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