HOUSTON – Six soldiers and a general were killed Monday when the Army Black Hawk helicopter ferrying them across central Texas crashed in a fog after striking a wire used to stabilize a television broadcast tower, military and law-enforcement officials said.
“The site is unbelievable,” said a McLennan County official, one of the first to reach the wreckage. “It just disintegrated. It looks like there is nothing left.”
There were no survivors. All the soldiers were from Fort Hood.
A military official at the home of Brig. Gen. Charles Allen said he was among those killed. In his 27-year career, Allen, an assistant division commander for the 4th Infantry Division, was stationed at several U.S. and overseas military posts and also worked at the Pentagon.
The UH-60 Black Hawk crashed about 6:45 a.m. in an oat field near Moody after lifting off from Fort Hood, said Cecil Green, a spokesman for the Army base.
The helicopter was en route to the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana. The soldiers had been assigned to check on equipment that was used in combat in Iraq and was undergoing maintenance at the depot, said Maj. Matt Garner at Fort Hood.
The helicopter struck a wire connected to a 1,700-foot tower that belongs to the television station KXXV, said station general manager Jerry Pursley. Investigators said they believed a recent storm had knocked out warning lights on the tower.
The wire ripped off at least two of the helicopter’s rotors, investigators said.
Investigators believe the helicopter was trying to stay below the cloud “ceiling,” which was less than 500 feet above the ground, said McLennan County Justice of the Peace Raymond Britton. He said the fog was so thick that he could not see the top half of the television tower when he arrived at the crash site.
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