Human remains found as search continues for 11 service members involved in helicopter crash

Human remains wash ashore near a Florida military base after seven Marines and four soldiers in an Army helicopter crashed overnight during a training mission. (Reuters)

Human remains washed ashore Wednesday, as officials continued their search for seven Marines and four soldiers in waters off the Florida Panhandle, where a military helicopter had crashed during a training exercise.

We have confirmed that we have had some human remains wash ashore in the area where our search and rescue team have begun a larger scale operation,AndrewBourland, a spokesman for the Eglin Air Force Base, told The Washington Post.

Bourland also said that debris from the aircraft had been located.

The Army UH-60 Black Hawk is believed to have gone down in the water and foggy conditions were reported in the area at the time of the crash, though it is too soon to say what might have caused the mishap.

At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Maj. Gen. GlennH.Curtis, the Adjutant General for the Louisiana National Guard, said the Black Hawk pilots had thousands of hours of flight experience and were instructor pilots, which indicates that they were experienced and qualified enough to train other pilots.

According to Curtis, it is one of the highest designations pilots in the Army can receive.

A second Black Hawk that participated in the exercise returned to base after take-off due to the weather conditions, Curtis said.That helicopter landed safely and all personnel on board were accounted for.

One of them started to take off and realized that theweather was a condition thenturned around and came back, said Curtis, who spoke from Hammond, La.

According to a Pentagon official who spoke anonymously to the Associated Pressnearly 12 hours after the craft was reported missing, all 11 service members are presumed dead.

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Human remains found as search continues for 11 service members involved in helicopter crash