PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard is responding to a Navy MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter that crashed with five people aboard Wednesday approximately 20 miles east of Cape Henry, Va.
A Navy aircrew contacted Coast Guard 5th District Command Center watchstanders at approximately 11 a.m. reporting the Sea Dragon crashed and another Navy aircrew dropped a life raft to the people in the water.
A U.S. Navy stock photo of a MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter taken in 2008
Sector watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and dispatched a crew aboard a 25-foot Response Boat – Small from Coast Guard Station Little Creek and diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Shearwater, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Portsmouth to assist.
At approximately 11:45 a.m., two Navy aircrews hoisted four people from the water and took them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
The Coast Guard is searching for the fifth crewmember from the Sea Dragon.
