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Governor: All 3 crew killed in Black Hawk helicopter crash

ST.
CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Three soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard
were killed Thursday when the Black Hawk helicopter they were riding in
for a routine maintenance test flight crashed in a farm field in central
Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz confirmed.

The identities of the soldiers were not immediately released, pending notification of family.

The crash was being investigated and preliminary information on the cause was not released.

“My
heart breaks for the families, the friends and fellow soldiers,” Walz
said at a news conference. “The coming days will be dark and difficult.”
He said Minnesota stands ready to assist the families of the soldiers
who were killed.

Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, the adjutant general of
the Minnesota National Guard, said in a tweet: “Our Minnesota National
Guard family is devastated by the deaths of these soldiers. Our priority
right now is ensuring that our families are taken care of.”

The National Guard said the helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk from the guard’s Army Aviation Safety Facility in St. Cloud.

The
Guard lost contact with the helicopter shortly after it took off on a
maintenance test flight from St. Cloud on Thursday afternoon, Guard
Master Sgt. Blair Heusdens said. The helicopter called mayday about nine
minutes after takeoff.

Stearns County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Dan
Miller told reporters that the mayday call came in at about 2:15 p.m.
Crews from multiple departments spent several hours searching before
finding the crash, Miller said.

The Minnesota State Patrol was
called to bring in a helicopter to help with the search. A State Patrol
Cirrus aircraft, equipped with thermal imaging cameras, also helped in
the search.

Television aerial footage showed the wreck of the
helicopter along a tree line near open fields near St. Cloud, a city
about 59 miles (95 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis. Apparent scorch
marks encircled the flattened wreckage in the snow.

The Guard’s
base near St. Cloud Regional Airport has been in operation since 2009,
with Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters maintained there.

Walz
served for 24 years in the Army National Guard, while he was a
schoolteacher and coach, but retired in 2005 to run for Congress. He
canceled a tree-lighting ceremony Thursday and went to the area near the
crash site.