On 11 August 2017, a Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter operated by the United Arab Emirates Air Force crashed while on a mission in Shabwa, Yemen during the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war, killing four of the soldiers on board. According to the Emirates News Agency, the crash was due to a technical malfunction.[1]
![]() A Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, similar to the helicopter involved in the crash | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 11 August 2017 |
Summary | technical malfunction |
Site | Shabwa, Yemen |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk |
Operator | United Arab Emirates Air Force |
Flight origin | unknown |
Destination | unknown |
Occupants | 11 |
Passengers | unknown |
Crew | unknown |
Fatalities | 4 |
Survivors | 7 |
Seven soldiers survived the crash, including a member of the royal Al Nahyan family. Emirati officials asked for help rescuing the survivors from Major General Miguel Correa, then the defense attaché at the United States Embassy in Abu Dhabi, which resulted in sending American special forces on two Ospreys for a rescue mission. The American medical team flew the seven injured soldiers to the USS Bataan in Gulf of Aden. After 48 hours, they were sent to an airport in Yemen, where they boarded an Air Force C-17 cargo plane destined for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany.[2]
References
edit- ^ "UAE says 4 soldiers killed in Yemen helicopter crash". Associated Press. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ Nissenbaum, Dion (October 19, 2020). "A Secret U.S. Rescue in Yemen Played a Role in Mideast Peace Deal". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 September 2022.