Washington, DC: The US Navy is continuing its search for a crew member of an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Arabian Sea on Wednesday.
Naval assets, including a Poseidon P-8A reconnaissance aircraft are engaged in the search operation.
The helicopter was launched from the aircraft carrier USS George H W Bush. Officials said that it made an emergency water landing with four crew members on board. Three of them were rescued with injuries and are now being treated on board the ship.
While the reason behind the crash is not known, US officials have said that it was not due to hostile fire. In fact, there was no firing going on when the crash occurred.
According to experts, a water landing is extremely hazardous for helicopters due to their design. As helicopters are top-heavy, they tend to turn over sideways or even turn turtle on touching the water, trapping people inside.
The US has lost at least 42 aircraft so far in the West Asia conflict that began on February 28 this year. These include fighter aircraft, transports, helicopters and drones.
An Apache attack helicopter was brought down by enemy fire over Iran. The rescue efforts for one of the pilots cost the US at least four aircraft.
