A recovery mission will resume at daylight in Nepal on a steep Himalayan mountainside where the wreckage of a U.S. Marine helicopter was found. It disappeared this week during a relief mission in the country hit by two major quakes in the past three weeks.
Six Marines and two soldiers from Nepal were on board. Officials say three bodies were found, and that there's little likelihood that anyone survived. Nepal's defense secretary says the wreckage "was found in pieces." A separate team sent by the U.S. Marines identified the wreckage as the missing helicopter.
Two of those on board were a military videographer from Arizona and a pilot from Kansas who was flying disaster relief supplies.
Three bodies found near the wreckage had not yet been identified Friday. The helicopter was carrying six Marines and two Nepalese army soldiers.
Capt. Chris Norgren of Wichita, Kansas, was a pilot on the helicopter that disappeared this week. He played high school football in the state and worked on the student newspaper.
"He loved to fly and he loved to help people, and those were the two things that he was doing," his father, Ronald Norgren, told The Associated Press on Friday. "He lived life to the fullest."
Lance Cpl. Jacob "Jake" Hug of Phoenix was also on the helicopter. Family members told the Arizona Republic that Hug joined the Marines shortly after graduating high school and was based in Okinawa, Japan, while working as a combat videographer.
They described him as an avid reader who has five brothers and sisters.
Hug turned 22 last week and called home to talk to his family on Mother's Day.
"He said he was tired and he was ready to go back, and just all the nice things that a great son would say to his mother on Mother's Day," said his father Jim Hug.
The helicopter, based at Camp Pendleton and attached to Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 469, disappeared over the town of Charikot hours after a magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck the region earlier this week.
Marine Lt. Gen. John Wissler, Commanding General, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Joint Task Force 505 and Marine Forces Japan, said during a news conference in Nepal that the wreckage of the UH-1Y Huey was found about 8 miles north of Charikot shortly before 2 p.m. Friday Nepal Standard Time in "exceptionally rugged terrain" in a dense forest at an altitude of about 11,000 feet.
"It was very severe crash, and based on what we saw in the condition of the aircraft, we believe there were no survivors," he said.
Lt. Col. John Caldwell, a Marine Corps spokesman, said the military will not identify the victims until 24 hours after their families are notified.
The UH-1Y Huey was on a disaster-relief mission called "Operation Sahayogi Haat" when it was reported missing Tuesday morning, approximately nine hours after Nepal was struck by a magnitude-7.3 aftershock to the magnitude-7.8 temblor of April 25. The initial earthquake killed more than 8,200 people while the big aftershock claimed another 117 lives.
The helicopter and squadron were diverted from a Joint Task Force exercise in the Philippines to assist with search and rescue.
"They were determined to go forward with their duties, eager to contribute to our mission and to alleviate suffering and to come to the rescue of those in need," Wissler said. "They were courageous. They were selfless individuals dedicated to the international humanitarian aid mission here in Nepal. We are deeply saddened by the discovery of this wreckage."
Aircraft from the United States, India and Nepal had searched for the missing helicopter before it was found.
U.S. Army Maj. Dave Eastburn, spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said an assessment of the site was ongoing and a thorough investigation would be conducted.
President Barack Obama, speaking in Washington, D.C., at the National Peace Officers Memorial ceremony, said his "prayers remain with the families of our Marines and two Nepalese soldiers."
"They went to that remote land to help people who suffered devastating losses in a terrible earthquake," Obama said. "They represent a truth that guides our work around the world — when our friends are in need, America helps.
"Sometimes those in uniform only get attention when there's a battle," he said. "But they do so much more than that, looking out for folks who are vulnerable or having a tough time, experienced a disaster. And it can involve great risk, great sacrifice. And we give thank to all our fellow Americans, military and civilian, who reflect the very best of American leadership around the world. The world is better for them."
Adm. Samuel Locklear III, of the U.S. Pacific Command, said the men proudly served their countries as Nepalese soldiers and U.S. Marines.
"Together we mourn as our nation and the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal have lost eight courageous men who put the needs of others ahead of their own," Locklear said. "These men were professionals, committed to the mission, and it is their dedication and sacrifice that helps define both our militaries."
