Helicopter was on its way to San Diego from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada
Five U.S. Marines aboard a helicopter that went down in California Wednesday have been confirmed dead, the military said.
Civil authorities found the helicopter Wednesday morning in Pine Valley, roughly 40 miles east of San Diego, after it had gone missing on a routine training flight a day earlier.
It had taken off from Creech Air Force Base outside Las Vegas Tuesday and was reported missing when it didn’t land at the Miramar air station in San Diego on schedule later that day.
The Marine Corps launched a search effort along with the San Diego County sheriff’s department and the Civil Air Patrol, the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.
