Four U.S. airmen were presumed dead after a U.S. military helicopter crashed Tuesday near the eastern coast of England, U.S. military officials told NBC News.
Norfolk police confirmed that four people were believed to have been killed in the crash about 7 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) in the area of Salthouse on the Norfolk coast.
The helicopter, an Air Force HH-60 Pave-Hawk — a modified version of the Army's Black Hawk — was on a training mission when it went down, the U.S. officials said. It was assigned to RAF Lakenheath, the British base that is also home to the U.S. Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing.
No one else was believed to have been injured, said Norfolk police, but the area remained cordoned off while specialists carefully combed through the scene to make sure any munitions that were on the helicopter posed no threat.
No cause had been established, U.S. officials and Norfolk police said. The British Defense Ministry said it was investigating but that it, too, had few details.
Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube and Marc Smith of NBC News contributed to this report.
