Topic: Navy Helicopter Crashes Near Corpus Christi

Houston Chronicle
January 17, 2008 By Associated Press
CORPUS CHRISTI — A Navy helicopter carrying four people crashed in a field in rural South Texas late Wednesday.
One person was rescued and taken to a local hospital and rescuers using spotlights and flashlights searched for the other three early today, said Ed Mickley, a spokesman for the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command.
The Navy MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopter exploded into flames after crashing about 8 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.
The helicopter assigned to the Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 was on a routine training mission from the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi when it went down in a farmer's field, Mickley said.
J.D. Batten, who lives about two miles from the crash site, told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that he was walking near his property's front gate when he heard a helicopter overhead.
"Suddenly I saw a red-glowing fireball shoot hundreds of feet up into the air," he said. "I heard a giant boom a second later. It was then dead silent and I couldn't hear the helicopter anymore."
Searchers set up a perimeter of about 200 yards around the crash site and were expanding beyond that in their search for other crew members.
Mickley said debris was scattered but it was difficult to assess how far because of darkness.
Firefighters battled high flames around the crash site, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported.