Posted on 09/06/2002 9:29:16 AM PDT by HAL9000
MANAMA, Bahrain, Sep 06, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A U.S. Navy helicopter crashed in the Gulf on Friday, killing an American television cameraman and injuring four sailors, the U.S. Navy said.
An American military official told reporters in Washington that a Navy SH-60B helicopter crashed into the North Arabian Gulf about 80 miles west of Bushehr, Iran.
"There were five people on board the helicopter. Four of the Navy personnel survived, but a civilian cameraman from KCBS television in Los Angeles died in the incident," Brig. Gen. John Rosa, the deputy operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon press conference.
The cameraman's identity has not been released.
"The helicopter had been hovering over a Syrian-flagged vessel to observe a health inspection boarding, and it crashed when the rotor blade struck the ship's mast," Rosa said.
The helicopter was attached to the cruiser USS Mobile Bay and crashed while on "normal Maritime Interdiction Operations," Cmdr. Jeff Alderson of the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet said.
One of the four sailors onboard the helicopter was flown to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington for treatment. Three others were taken to an undisclosed location, Alderson said.
The sailors' injuries were not serious, he added.
The navy was investigating the cause of the crash.
The ships of the 5th Fleet take part in an operation to enforce U.N. sanctions on Iraq, stopping freighters suspected of illegally carrying Iraqi oil.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Crawford says Greene joined KCBS in June of 1978 and had won many awards over the years. Greene lived in Ventura County and is survived by a wife and two children. He was on assignment for the station's Special Assignment unit.
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