[Tennessee Nana]

On FOX they said the helicopter had been found with nobody aboard Where were the men found ???

[V_TWIN]

I suspect the crew was on board all along, the military wasn’t going to provide status until the next of kin was notified.

As far as fox goes.....its been my studied opinion that they play as fast and loose with the facts as all the others.

[verum ago]

On FOX they said the helicopter had been found with nobody aboard Where were the men found ???

None of the official statements said they weren't on the helicopter. There were a bunch of oddly constructed headlines due to the vague statements issued, along the lines of "helicopter found but search continues." Some people extrapolated this to mean the marines weren't in the helicopter.

A careful reading of the official statements at the time indicated that the helicopter had been spotted, but that t rescuers had not reached it yet. So officially it was still a search and rescue mission, i.e. the search continued.

I think they just, quite reasonably, didn't want to say anything until they reached the helicopter, but the odd way they phrased that the search and rescue operation was ongoing got misinterpreted.