California search and rescue crews found a U.S. Marine CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter carrying five U.S. service members in the area of Pine Valley, California, on Wednesday morning.
The helicopter failed to show on time at San Diego-area Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and was overdue, touching off a search and rescue operation.
The Marines were flying a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter from Creech Air Force Base, northwest of Las Vegas, where they had been doing unit-level training and were returning home to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, defense officials said.
An atmospheric river storm in the region has been causing flooding and landslides in Southern California.
The rough terrain in the area made search and rescue difficult, and the sheriffs have deployed off-road vehicles to search for the missing Marines.
Waves of heavy downpours hit the area throughout the night and snow was forecast for San Diego County mountains.
The five U.S. Marines were assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar, the Marine Corps said in a statement.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department was notified at 1 a.m. that the craft was overdue for arrival at Miramar and was last seen in the area of Pine Valley, a mountainous region near the Cleveland National Forest about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of downtown San Diego, Lt. Matthew Carpenter said.
The military was coordinating search and rescue efforts with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the Civil Air Patrol, the Marine Corps said.
The National Weather Service in San Diego called for 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of snow in the mountains above 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) and gusty winds late Wednesday. On Tuesday afternoon a tornado warning was issued but quickly canceled with the weather service saying the storm was not capable of forming a twister.
About 99 feet (30 meters) long, the CH-53E Super Stallion is the largest and heaviest helicopter in the military. It can move troops and equipment over rugged terrain in bad weather, including at night, according to the Marine Corps website. It is also nicknamed the "hurricane maker" because of the amount of downwash generated from its three engines.
Two CH-53E helicopters were used in the civil war-torn capital of Mogadishu, Somalia, in January 1990 to rescue American and foreign allies from the U.S. embassy.
Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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