HALEIWA, Hawaii — A retiree who lives across the street from a Hawaii beach said she heard two booms that were loud enough to shake her house on the night two Marine Corps helicopters crashed off the island of Oahu.
“I threw my blanket off, put my slippers on and ran outside thinking it was a car accident,” Elaray Navarro said.
The Coast Guard was notified late Thursday of the crash by another civilian who saw the aircraft flying then disappear and a fireball. Someone else reported a flare in the sky, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Scott Carr said.
It was not clear if the fireball and the flare were the same, he said.
The Marines were alerted when the CH-53E helicopters carrying six crew members each failed to return to their base at Kaneohe Bay following a nighttime training mission. Hours later, a Coast Guard helicopter and C-130 airplane spotted debris 2 1/2 miles off the island of Oahu. The wreckage was strewn over a two-mile area, Marine Capt. Timothy Irish said.
On Saturday, rescuers continued to search choppy waters, military officials said. There was no immediate word on the fate of those aboard or what caused the accident.
Rough weather was making the search difficult, with winds blowing up to 23 mph and breaking surf up to 30 feet on Friday.
“That is moving that debris all over the place,” Carr said. “It makes finding things incredibly difficult.”
Even Honolulu lifeguards accustomed to big waves weren’t able to search for long with poor morning visibility.
“We are now back in the water, and we are searching,” Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokeswoman Shayne Enright said. “We’re very hopeful that we will still find possible survivors out there.”
About two dozen Marines were seen walking up and down the beach at Waimea Bay, a popular surfing spot a few miles from the rescue operation. They appeared to be searching the area. One used binoculars to look out to sea.
The Coast Guard was keeping people out of a wide zone that spanned about 30 miles of shoreline, from Kaena Point to Kahuku Point, citing danger from debris. The zone extended from the shore to 8 miles off the coast.
The transport helicopters were part of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Known as Super Stallions, they are the U.S. military’s largest helicopter, capable of carrying a light armored vehicle, 16 tons of cargo or a team of combat-equipped Marines, according to a Marine Corps website.
The Coast Guard initially reported that the choppers had collided, but Irish said Friday that he did not know if the accident was a collision.
The helicopters normally carry four crew members, but this particular flight also carried one or two instructor trainers, Irish said. He did not know if they were teaching the crew or just observing.
Navarro, the retiree who heard the two booms, expressed concern for the missing Marines as she watched the pounding surf from Haleiwa.
“I pray to the man upstairs to help them. To bring them home safely,” she said.
The crash came less than a year after a Marine Corps tilt-rotor aircraft crashed during a training exercise in Hawaii, killing two Marines. The MV-22 Osprey went down last May with 21 Marines and a Navy corpsman on board.
In 2011, one serviceman was killed and three others injured when a CH-53D Sea Stallion chopper crashed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
