7 Dead In Army Helicopter Crash

A Black Hawk helicopter with 11 aboard crashed Thursday during a training mission at Fort Campbell, killing seven people.

The four other passengers were injured and 2 of those are in critical condition. The identity of the victims were not immediately available.

The injured are being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell.

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed about 7 a.m. local time on the sprawling Army post.

The Black Hawk is a light transport helicopter that is the primary helicopter for air assault, air cavalry and aeromedical-evacuation units. Each helicopter can transport an 11-man infantry squad.

An Army photo of the crash scene, distributed early this afternoon, showed the helicopter scattered in several large pieces in a wooded area.

A team from the U.S. Army Safety Center in Fort Rucker, Ala., was to arrive Thursday to help with the investigation. A spokesman for Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft, which makes the Black Hawk, said the company is sending an investigator to the crash site.

Fort Campbell straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee line about 200 miles southwest of Louisville. It is headquarters for the 101st Airborne Division.

This isn't the first time a fatal crash involving a Black Hawk helicopter has occurred at Fort Campbell. In 1996, two Black Hawks collided, killing six soldiers.