Search continues for military chopper crash victims
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Florida -- Thick fog continued to hamper the search Wednesday night for seven Marines and four National Guard soldiers, missing and presumed dead after their Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the Florida Panhandle.
As debris, including human remains, washed ashore along Santa Rosa Sound, dozens of search boats, Coast Guard helicopters and ground personnel took part in what was still officially a search and rescue mission.
"I think we always hold out hope," Air Force Maj. Craig Savage said. "I know we have an incredible search and rescue team that will be doing everything they can."
The search was suspended until morning at around 7:30 p.m. due to deteriorating weather conditions, according to CBS Mobile, Alabama affiliate WKRG-TV.
]The station reported two candlelight vigils Wednesday night in Navarre, Florida, drew dozens of people who wanted to show their support and offer prayers for the missing troops.
None of the victims was immediately identified. The Marines were part of a special operations group based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The National Guard soldiers were from a unit based in Hammond, Louisiana. They had arrived Sunday for a week of training.
Military officials haven't said what caused Tuesday night's crash of the UH-60 Black Hawk, but the weather was bad enough for a second helicopter taking part in the training mission to return to land, said Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard.
"You can depart from one station and hit weather that you didn't expect so the conditions have to be right for them to take off," Curtis told CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman. "Now, what they run into when they're airborne is a different story."
The helicopter was equipped with a flight data recorder, which search crews were also attempting to locate, WKRG reported.
Curtis said the National Guard pilots were Iraq vets and also instructors, the Army's highest rating, who had several thousand hours of flying time in Black Hawks.
They were carrying unconventional warriors from the Marines Special Operations Command. Like the Army's Green Berets and the Navy's SEALs, they were highly trained to endure grueling conditions and sensitive assignments on land and at sea, from seizing ships to special reconnaissance missions and direct action inside hostile territory.
Tuesday night's training involved practicing "insertion and extraction missions," using small boats and helicopters to get troops into and out of a target site, said Capt. Barry Morris, spokesman for the Marine Corps Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune.
President Obama expressed his condolences to the families and said he's confident of a detailed and thorough investigation, said his spokesman, Josh Earnest.
Kim Urr, 62, who works at the Navarre Beach campground near the Eglin Air Force Base training area, said she heard a strange sound, followed by two explosions around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"It sounded like something metal either being hit or falling over, that's what it sounded like. And there were two booms afterward, similar to what you hear with ordnance booms, but more muffled," Urr said.