2 soldiers killed after Mississippi National Guard helicopter crashes in woods during training mission: officials

Two soldiers were killed when a military helicopter crashed in a wooded area during a training mission in Mississippi on Friday.

A Mississippi National Guard AH-64 Apache went down around 2 p.m. off of Highway 30 near Booneville in Prentiss County — about 115 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, officials confirmed.

The chopper was flying a routine training mission when it crashed, according to the Mississippi National Guard.

Two soldiers, who have not yet been identified, died in the wreck.  

One soldier was in A Company 1-149 Aviation Regiment Unit and the other soldier was in D Company 2-151 Lakota Medical Evacuation Unit.

“Our paramount concern at this time is to ensure proper casualty assistance is conducted to support the surviving family members,” the Mississippi National Guard said.

“Please keep the members of the Mississippi National Guard and their Families in your thoughts and prayers during this challenging time,” it added. 

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Officials said they were unable to divulge further details.

The tragedy comes just weeks after 5 marines were killed in a helicopter crash during a storm in southern California.

The marines were flying back to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego from the Creech Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas as California was pounded with record-braking rainfall and snow that had made flight conditions treacherous and unstable.

Sgt. Alec Langen, 23, Lance Cpl. Donovan Davis, 21, Capt. Jack Casey, 26, Capt. Benjamin Moulton, 27 and Capt. Miguel Nava, 28, were all killed.

In another military tragedy just over three months ago, five Army special operations soldiers were killed when their helicopter went down in the Mediterranean Sea during an aerial refueling training exercise.