ARABIAN SEA — The U.S. Navy has called off an exhaustive search for a sailor missing after an MH-60S Sea Hawk made an emergency water landing, ending more than four days of rescue work without finding him.
Search teams spent more than 102 hours covering about 14,000 square miles, Navy officials said. Navy and Air Force aircraft and ships worked the open water. They did not locate the missing crew member.
Four other sailors were pulled from the water and survived. Three were later described as stable aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, from which the helicopter had been flying. Three crew members were injured in the landing itself.
The Navy withheld the missing sailor’s name pending notification of next of kin, standard practice after a combat-theater casualty.
U.S. 5th Fleet said the operation was an extensive, coordinated search-and-rescue effort. Hunting a single person at sea is brutal work: darkness, weather, swell, current and poor visibility all work against recovery. Ending the active search is a hard line for the family and for the shipmates who spent days looking.
Officials have not explained why the helicopter had to ditch. They have said there is no indication of hostile fire. Investigators are expected to review the aircraft’s condition, maintenance, flight operations, weather, sea state, crew actions and radio traffic before the emergency. They will also try to reconstruct what happened after the Sea Hawk hit the water — how four people were recovered and one was not.
The MH-60S is a workhorse used for logistics, combat support and rescue. The helicopter was assigned to a squadron embarked on the Bush, which has been operating in Central Command waters.
The incident sits inside a tense theater, but officials have not tied this landing to an enemy attack. The risks of naval aviation remain even when the cause looks like an accident.
The search is over. The investigation is not. Surviving crew members are in care. The family waits on a name and on answers the Navy says it will release when it can.
