The Navy on Sunday suspended the search for a crew member who has been missing since a MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea on Wednesday.
Three other crew members aboard the Navy helicopter were rescued soon after the aircraft made an emergency landing in the water on July 1 during a routine patrol. The Navy said last week that the crew members were in stable condition aboard the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush.
Military officials have said the downing of the helicopter was not the result of hostile fire, and that the cause of the crash was under investigation. In a statement on Sunday, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said Navy and Air Force personnel searched over 14,000 square miles for more than 100 hours before calling off the rescue operation.
The death of the sailor, whose identity was being withheld pending the notification of family members, brought to 14 the number of service members who have died in the war against Iran.
Six service members were killed on March 1 by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait’s Shuaiba port. Another service member died on March 8 following an attack by Iran on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Six Air Force personnel were killed on March 12 when two Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft collided in midair and one of the planes crashed in western Iraq.
More than 400 U.S. service members have been injured in the Iran conflict, according to the military’s Central Command. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said more than 90 percent of those injured had returned to duty.
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