Three crew members died in a fiery Navy helicopter crash near Corpus Christi, Texas, a military spokesman said, and a fourth is hospitalized in critical condition. The Navy MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopter crashed in a field about four miles south of Corpus Christi on Wednesday just after 8 p.m. It caught fire after impact, said Ed Mackley with the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command.A witness reported a huge fireball and booming noise shortly after the crash. Rescuers found bodies of three crew members about 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, Mackley said.
Witness J.D. Batten told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times he was walking on his property about two miles from the crash site when he heard a helicopter overhead.
"I saw a red-glowing fireball shoot hundreds of feet up into the air," he told the paper. "I heard a giant boom a second later. It was then dead silent, and I couldn't hear the helicopter anymore."
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