Nine soldiers were eliminated in an Army chopper training that collided in Kentucky

March 31, 2023: On Wednesday, Nine soldiers were murdered after two U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters crashed in a training incident in Kentucky, officials said on Thursday.

The crash unfolded at 10 p.m. local time during training in Trigg County, to the Army base Fort Campbell, the command said in a statement on Thursday.

All nine were stated at Fort Campbell in the 101st Airborne Division. Their identities were not made public, pending next of kin notification.

John Lubas, with the 101st Airborne Division, said there were five and four people in each of the helicopters, which he described as “fairly typical.”

The crash unfolded as the two HH-60 Blackhawk medical evacuation aircraft were flying during the training exercise, officials said.

The Army has deployed an aircraft safety team from Alabama who will arrive on Thursday and initiate a search into the cause of the crash, Lubas said. He stated that he is hopeful investigators will be able to pull information from onboard computers, noting that something similar to a black box on board can shed more light on the crash.

“This is a tragic loss for our families, our division and Fort Campbell, and our amount one priority is caring for the people and the soldiers without our aviation brigade,” Lubas stated.

The 101st Airborne Division, the air assault division of the U.S. Army, confirmed the helicopter incident and several casualties in a tweet on Thursday morning.

On Thursday, during a news conference, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said, “We know a lot about the loss in Kentucky, especially these last few years. We’re going to do what we do. We’re going to finish our arms all over these families.”

Kentucky State Police were on the situation of the helicopter crash, with military investigators and several different agencies, the department said in a news release on Thursday.

Speaking with journalists following the crash, state police stated that the incident unfolded in a partially wooded field. They told me a perimeter had been set up around the debris field.

Named the “Screaming Eagles,” the 101st Airborne Division was started on August 16, 1942, and is based near Kentucky’s border with Tennessee.