Search for Fliers Lost in Crash on Carrier Is Halted
Navy teams halted their search of waters off the coast of Virginia on Monday for three fliers missing after a deadly nighttime crash on the deck of an aircraft carrier. They were presumed dead, bringing the death toll from the accident to four.
Rescue crews had searched for nearly 24 hours around the crash site 120 miles offshore until it grew dark, Navy spokesman Lt. Steve Tedder said.
“If they had been in the water for that long, they certainly would not have survived,” Tedder said.
A Navy EA-6B Prowler whose crew was practicing landings on the Enterprise struck an S-3 Viking aircraft sitting on the deck Sunday night. All six crew members from the two planes ejected. Besides the three missing, one died and two were injured.
The four Prowler crew members apparently landed in the water after they ejected. The body of Lt. j.g. Brendan J. Duffy, 27, of Annapolis, Md., was recovered shortly after the crash, the Navy said.
The Navy identified the missing Prowler crew as Lt j.g. Charles E. Woodard, 26, of Herndon, Va.; Lt. j.g. Meredith Carol Loughran, 26, of Sandston, Va.; and the pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Kurt W. Barich, 35, of Oak Harbor, Wash.
The two crew members of the Viking were slightly injured.
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