Another US Navy chopper has crashed after a first accident in Norfolk (Picture: PA)

A US military helicopter crashed in the Atlantic tonight – the second to come down in as many days.

The Navy chopper went down off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia.

It came less than a 24 hours after a Pave Hawk crashed in Norfolk on the east coast of England, killing four crew members.

Four of those involved in the Virginia crash were rescued but one person later died. Teams were searching for a fifth person.


Meanwhile, four crew members killed in the Pave Hawk crash were named tonight.

They were Capt Christopher Stover and Capt Sean Ruane, who were the helicopter’s pilots, and special mission aviators Technical Sgt Dale Mathews and SSgt Afton Ponce.



Their bodies remained at the scene on a nature reserve in Cley-next-the-Sea this evening and are not expected to be recovered until tomorrow. Capt Ruane’s wife, Rachel, said on a website at the time of their marriage in 2011 she was proud of his job and: ‘There are very few men like him.’

Police and crash investigators have been held up by munitions, thought to be live ammunition, among the debris scattered around an area the size of a football pitch.

The helicopter was carrying out a low-level training mission from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.

Sue McKnespiey, who lives nearby, said it flew overhead ‘very fast and very low’. She added: ‘This sounded very heavy and very unusual.’

Col Kyle Robinson, commander of 48th Fighter Wing stationed at the base, said: ‘I can only imagine the hurt and sorrow felt by the family and friends of these airmen.’