Updated at 6:06 p.m., Thursday, June 30, 2005
Pearl SEALs on downed Afghanistan helicopter
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Advertiser Staff and News Services
Navy SEALs based at Pearl Harbor were among the 16 U.S. troops killed when a special forces helicopter was shot down by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, according to a Navy dependent here who said families were being notified of the deaths.The dependent said Navy officials told families at 8:30 this morning that six of the SEALs on the helicopter were based at Pearl Harbor. Officials also told families that three of the SEALs were missing and presumed dead, and three were missing in action.
The dependent said none of the SEALs was born or raised in Hawai'i.
Later in the day, a U.S. official in Washington said eight Navy SEALs and eight Army air crew had been killed.
The MH-47 Chinook helicopter went down Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan while ferrying troops to a battle against militants — the deadliest single blow to American forces who ousted the Taliban in 2001 for harboring al-Qaida and are now grappling with an escalating insurgency.
"At this point, we have recovered all 16 bodies of those servicemen who were onboard the MH-47 helicopter that crashed on Tuesday," Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.
Authorities initially reported 17 people were on board, but the manifest included a person who apparently missed the flight, military officials said.
Conway said the military did not yet have a full account of all ground troops involved in the operation, although "we do not have any people classified as missing at this point."
He would provide no details when asked what was known about the troops on the ground that the helicopter was sent to aid.
"I can only say that it is an ongoing operation in that context, and we don't have full accountability nor will we until such time as the operation is complete," he said.
Rescuers reached the crash site today, about 36 hours after the chopper went down in high mountains near the town of Asadabad, close to the border with Pakistan, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara told The Associated Press.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed the group shot down the helicopter, and also said there was video of the attack. No video has been released, however, and the spokesman could not be reached today.
Conway said it appears an unguided rocket-propelled grenade hit the chopper. He called it "a pretty lucky shot against a helicopter."
He said it appears the troops on board died during the crash and not during a fight on the ground afterward.
