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Five US Army Special Operations forces were killed in a helicopter crash in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, US officials said Sunday.
The troops were crew members of an MH-60 helicopter that was on a refueling training mission early Saturday when the plane crashed off the coast of Cyprus, three U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. The accident is under investigation, they said.
The Pentagon has quietly sent command teams from the Joint Special Operations Command, including the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, to Cyprus to be prepared in case they are needed to help evacuate American citizens from the region.
The commandos are also trained in hostage rescue operations. About a dozen or so american hostages They were seized when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, but Biden administration officials have indicated they have no plans to deploy US troops to the densely populated Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is conducting major ground operations.
The helicopter crew members who died were among the airmen assigned to transport commandos on such clandestine missions.
A US aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, is also operating in the eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Israel, in what the Biden administration has said is a deterrent to Iran and its proxies in the region from expanding the Gaza war.
In a statement Sunday, the military’s European Command acknowledged the deaths of the five service members on what it said was “a routine mid-air refueling mission” but did not release any other information about the crash, the crew or their unit in a reflection of the secrecy surrounding the unit’s mission.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement Sunday: “We mourn the tragic loss of five U.S. service members during a training accident in the Mediterranean Sea early Saturday morning.”
“As we continue to gather more information about this deadly crash,” Austin said, “it is another stark reminder that the brave men and women who defend our great nation risk their lives every day to keep our country safe.”