![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635885528060789057-hawaii-helicopter-coljpg.jpg\")
A search vessel cruises the waters off the beach at Haleiwa, Hawaii, Jan. 15, 2016. Two Marine helicopters carrying 12 crew members collided off the island of Oahu during a nighttime training mission, and rescuers are searching a debris field in choppy waters, military officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Audrey McAvoy\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\u00a0Marines\u00a0were alerted when the CH-53E helicopters carrying six crew members each failed to return to their base at Kaneohe Bay the training mission. Hours later, a\u00a0Coast\u00a0Guard\u00a0helicopter and C-130 airplane spotted debris 2 1\/2 miles off of Oahu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The transport helicopters were part of the 1st\u00a0Marine\u00a0Aircraft Wing at\u00a0Marine\u00a0Corps Base Hawaii. Known as Super Stallions, they are the U.S.\u00a0military’s\u00a0largest helicopter, capable of carrying a light armored vehicle, 16 tons of cargo or a team of combat-equipped\u00a0Marines, according to a\u00a0Marine\u00a0Corps website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n The\u00a0Coast\u00a0Guard\u00a0initially reported that the choppers had collided, but\u00a0Marine\u00a0Capt. Timothy Irish said Friday that he did not know if the accident was a collision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We think they collided because both of them went down,” Mario Vittone, a retired\u00a0Coast\u00a0Guardsman who is an expert on sea survival, said Sunday from Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would have happened very quickly and survival would entail overcoming many factors. “You have to survive the crash, you have to survive the on-rushing of water,” he said, adding they would then have to battle dehydration and exposure to the elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A high surf warning for Oahu’s north and west shores was extended until noon Sunday. Waves of up to 30 feet were expected to subside to advisory levels Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marines walk on the beach at Waimea Bay near Haleiwa, Hawaii, where two military helicopters crashed into the ocean about 2 miles offshore, Jan. 15, 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Mariana Keller via AP Photo<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s difficult to spot anything in breaking waves, said Vittone, who was a helicopter swimmer and\u00a0marineaccident investigator with the\u00a0Coast\u00a0Guard. “It almost like camouflages everything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crash was off the north shore, but the search area was expanded to include waters off Oahu’s west\u00a0coaston Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expanding the search area lowers the probability of detection, Vittone said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\u00a0Coast\u00a0Guard\u00a0uses what’s called the Probability of Survival Decision Aid to gauge survival time he said, explaining that they factor in air temperature, water temperature, sea conditions and humidity, along with details about the victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They use age and weight and sex and what they were wearing, along what gear they have on,” Vittone said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rescuers will continue to search “as long as there’s probable cause that they have something to find,” said\u00a0Coast\u00a0Guard\u00a0spokeswoman Tara Molle. As of Sunday morning, there were no plans to call off or suspend the search, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S.\u00a0Marines\u00a0Corps released the names of the 12 missing crew members late Saturday. Though based in Hawaii, the\u00a0Marines\u00a0were from various states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some family members were holding out hope that survivors could be found, while asking for privacy as they waited for updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “My husband and I want everyone to know that this is not about us,” Donna McGrew, mother of Maj. Shawn Campbell of College Station, Texas, said in a statement. “This is about the families that are suffering, and about all the sacrifices that our\u00a0military\u00a0members and their families make on a daily basis.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The missing crew members are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rescuers continued to search choppy waters where debris was sighted after two Marine Corps helicopters carrying six crew members each crashed off the Hawaiian island of Oahu during a nighttime training mission, military officia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1817,2443],"class_list":["post-11284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VZMSB4E75NHJ3ILZOX76FCKE3I","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2016\/01\/16\/search-for-12-marines-from-downed-helicopters-enters-3rd-day\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635885528723637306-correction-hawaii-hmjpg.jpg\")