Army soldier killed in ‘incident’ involving two helicopters

One soldier was killed in an incident involving two helicopters early Wednesday morning at an Army airfield in Georgia, the service announced.

The accident, which involved two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, took place around 2 a.m. at Wright Army Field, part of Fort Stewart in Hinesville, according to a statement from base officials.  

The soldier, whose identity has not yet been released pending next of kin notification, was assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. 

The incident is under investigation and Wright Army Airfield is closed until further notice, officials said.  

The accident joins a string of other rotary-wing aircraft crashes in recent months, the most recent being an MV-22B Osprey aircraft crash on March 18 in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Norway that killed four Marines.  

Prior to that, four civilian personnel were killed in a crash at a missile range in Kauai, Hawaii, in February.  

That same month, two Blackhawk helicopters crashed during Utah National Guard training, though no serious injuries ensued.  

And in January, one person was injured when a Navy Seahawk helicopter — an aircraft based on the Army’s Blackhawk — made a crash landing in coastal Virginia.