Sign up HERE to our DC Insider newsletter - your guide to what's rocking Washington, rattling the White House and setting tongues wagging on the Hill See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ROSS IBBETSON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR Published: 20:16 BST, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 20:28 BST, 1 July 2026
A US Navy airman is missing after his helicopter went down in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday, with three others pulled from the water alive.The MH-60S Sea Hawk was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and hit the water at about 11am local time, roughly 3.30am ET. Three of the four crew were recovered and are in stable condition aboard the carrier.A frantic rescue mission is underway for the fourth, with Navy ships and aircraft taking part across the region. The airman was not identified.'US Navy assets in the region are currently searching for other aircrewman still missing,' the 5th Fleet said in a statement on X.The Navy said there was 'no indication' the emergency was caused by hostile action. It gave no cause for the 'emergency water landing' and said it is under investigation.The service did not say whether the Sea Hawk was salvaged or lost to the sea.The Sea Hawk is a workhorse used mainly for search, transport and plane-guard flights. It flies from the Bush with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, the 'Nightdippers,' out of Naval Air Station Norfolk in Virginia. In this December 21, 2018, file photo, a U.S. MH-60 Seahawk helicopter flies over Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz The Bush sailed from Norfolk on March 31 and rounded the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Iran war theater where it has operated since late April.The carrier is one of two the US still has deployed in the war against Iran.It is the second US military helicopter to go down in the region in a matter of weeks.An Army AH-64 Apache came down in the Gulf of Oman on June 9. A drone boat plucked its crew from the water.Trump said Iranian forces shot that aircraft out of the sky.The Sea Hawk crash came as US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in Doha aimed at a permanent end to the war. Iran's lead negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi flew in with his own team.Vice President JD Vance warned Iran against rebuilding its nuclear program in remarks to troops at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.'If the Iranians want to rebuild their nuclear program, the president has options,' Vance said.Iranian state television claimed a foreign container ship had run aground in the Strait of Hormuz after straying outside a shipping route approved by Tehran.The report served Iran's disputed claim that vessels must follow its instructions or risk disaster. Roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas moves through the strait in peacetime.Iran has used its power to choke the channel as leverage since the US and Israel opened the war on February 28.
