3 Soldiers Killed After 2 U.S. Army Helicopters Crash In Alaska

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK — Three U.S. Army soldiers were killed and a fourth injured when two helicopters returning from a training mission collided in flight Thursday near Healy, Alaska, the Army said in a news release early Friday morning.

Two of the soldiers died at the scene of the crash, and a third died on the way to a hospital in Fairbanks. A fourth soldier was taken to the hospital, the Army said in a statement.

The crash involved two AH-64 Apache helicopters from the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright, based near Fairbanks, according to the Army.

Each helicopter was carrying two people at the time of the crash, John Pennell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Alaska, said earlier Thursday.

"This is an incredible loss for these soldiers' families, their fellow soldiers, and for the division," United States Army Major General Brian Spencer Eifler said in the release. "Our hearts and prayers go out to their families, friends and loved ones, and we are making the full resources of the Army available to support them."

The crash in Healy, a Denali County city with a population of 911, is the second accident involving military helicopters in Alaska this year. In February, two soldiers were injured when an Apache helicopter rolled after taking off from Talkeetna en route to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage from Fort Wainwright.

In March, nine soldiers were killed when two U.S. Army HH60 Blackhawk helicopters crashed during a routine nighttime training exercise about 30 miles northeast of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.