Posted on: Thursday, January 27, 2005

Crash called most deadly since 1968

Advertiser Staff

Yesterday's incident in Iraq was the Marine Corps' worst loss of life in a helicopter crash since Jan. 8, 1968, when a CH-53A went down during a nighttime flight in South Vietnam and 38 Marines were killed, according to the Web site www.flyarmy.org.

Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Jerome Bryant said he was unable to verify that information because the Naval Safety Center's official database only goes back to 1980. The worst crash in those records before yesterday's was a 1984 CH-53D crash that killed 29 people, Bryant said. He said he had no more details.