Work Begins to Raise Sunken Marine Chopper
The Navy on Friday began the laborious process of retrieving the wreckage of the Marine Corps helicopter that crashed last week in 3,600 feet of water.
The bodies of six Marines and a Navy corpsman are thought to be inside the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter.
The seven were killed when the copter crashed during a routine training exercise. Eleven Marines aboard the helicopter were rescued.
The rescue involves a specially equipped ship that has been used to recover downed aircraft from the ocean bottom. The Navy decided to undertake the process after pinpointing the helicopter’s location Wednesday using a robotic deep submersible vehicle.
The retrieval process could take several days, a Navy spokeswoman said.
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